Yi David Ju

Yi (David) Ju is a Senior Research Fellow and ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow in the School of Science at RMIT University.  His research spans fundamental studies on bio–nano interactions, particularly the interplay between nanomaterials and the immune system, as well as translational efforts to develop innovative nanoparticles for targeted drug and gene delivery.

Yi (David) Ju received his Ph.D. degree from The University of Melbourne in 2017 under the supervision of Frank Caruso. Following his Ph.D. completion, he held a Research Fellow position in the same group exploring various stealth nanomaterials for controlled bio–nano interactions and served as a Co-Leader (2017–2021) of the Signature Project ‘Mediating Protein Interactions’ within the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio–Nano Science and Technology (CBNS). He moved to RMIT University in 2021 to take up a three-year Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship and received the Victoria Fellowship from Victorian State Government in the same year. In 2022, he received an ARC DECRA Fellowship to study the interactions between nanomaterials and the immune system.

He has been an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Melbourne since 2021. He was a visiting researcher in the Nanomedicine Lab at the University of Manchester from January to September in 2023.

He currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Materials Science (Springer Nature), a committee member for the Victorian Branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI), and an active member of Australasian Colloid and Interface Society (ACIS) (https://acis.wildapricot.org). 

Awards:
- 2023 ACIS ECR Lectureship, Australasian Colloid and Interface Society (2023).
- Finalist of the 2023 ACS Nano Impact Award, ACS Nano (2023).
- Enabling Capability Platform Activity Funding, RMIT University (2022&2023).
- 2020 Most Significant CBNS Publication Award, ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology (2021).
- CBNS Career Development Award, ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology (2020).
- Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne (2019).
- Nanoscale Advances Oral Prize from Royal Society of Chemistry at the 10th International Nanomedicine Conference held in Sydney (2019).
- Reviewer Excellence Award for Chemistry of Materials, American Chemical Society (2017).
- Best Tutor Award, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne (2014).