Dr Fei Deng
Research Associate
Engineering
Grad Sch: Biomedical Eng
Dr Deng is currently an NHMRC EL1 Fellow and NSW Cancer Institute ECR Fellow. Dr Deng received his Ph.D. degree from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. Dr Deng’s research interests include point-of-care biosensing devices, CRISPR biosensing device and in vivo biosensing device. To date, Dr Deng has published over 40 journal articles, including Nature Communications, AFM, Small, Water Research, BBI etc. In addition, he has secured over $12M research grants, including AEA, CRCP, NHMRC Idea Grant, ARC Discovery Project etc. His biosensor research has been internationally recognized, leading to an ECR Award from Royal Society of NSW, an ECR Award from ECAN, and multiple travel grants. Additionally, his innovations have gained significant industry recognition, leading to a startup company (Casbio Pty Ltd, co-founder) and a research consultant of Avicena Systems Limited.
Phone
0451876009
E-mail
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- NHMRC Investigator EL1, 2025, sole-CI
- Early Career Fellowship of Cancer Institute NSW, 2025-2027, sole-CI
- NICE-UNSW "Proof-of-Scale" Fund, 2024-2025, CIA
- Australia's Economic Accelerator, 2024-2025, CIA
- Cooperative Research Centres Projects, 2024-2026, co-CI
- UNSW-Tsinghua Collaborative Research Seed Program, 2023, co-CI
- NHMRC Idea Grant, 2024-2026, co-CI
- ARC Discovery Project, 2024-2026, co-CI
- UNSW_NMHA Seed Funidng, 2023, co-CI
- Torch Innovation, 2023, CIA
- Health Security Systems Australia, 2023, co-CI.
- NSSN Grand Challenge Fund, 2023, co-CI.
- 3Rs Grant from UNSW, 2022, co-CI.
- Industry competitive research award, 2022-2024, co-CI.
- Two Innovation connections grants, 2021 (RG211246, RG210091), CI on both.
- One EDI and ECAN seed funding from UNSW, 2021, CIA.
- Royal Society of New South Wales Early Career Research and Service Citation Award (2024)
- Australian Centre for NanoMedicine (ACN) Travel Award (2023)
- Diversity in Engineering Academic Visitors Funding Award (2023)
- UNSW Engineering ECA Awards – Innovation and Engagement Award (2022)
- Diversity in Engineering Academic Visitors Funding Award (2023)
- ARC Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP) Travel Award (2022)
- Australian Centre for NanoMedicine (ACN) Travel Award (2022)
- PhD Scholarship in Sandwich assay based deployable biosensors (2017-2021)
- Excellent Graduate Thesis (Master, 2016)
- Foreigners Scholarship (Master, 2013-2016)
- Secondary Prize of Tianjin chemistry competition (Bachelor, 2011)
Patent
- CRISPR/Cas-associated detection assays, methods and kits. (2023) PCT Patent. International application No. PCT/AU2022/050829.
- Ultrasensitive CRISPR biosensors assisted by nucleic acid mediators. (2023) PCT Patent. International application No. PCT/AU2023/051144.
- Biosensor. (2023) Australian provisional patent No. P0046904AU
My Research Supervision
PhD Supervision Experience
- Joint-supervising PhD research project: CRISPR sensor for precision oncology (R. Xue), 2025-now
- Co-supervising PhD research project: AI-assisted, microfluidics-enabled CRISPR biosensors for precision diagnosis (R. Wang), 2025-now
- Co-supervising PhD research project: Development of rapid and sensitive methods for the detection of waterborne pathogens , 2024 (J. Arona)
- Co-supervising PhD research project: Programmable nucleases and applications in biosensing, 2023 (X. Zhai)
- Joint-supervising PhD research project: Novel biosensors for exosome detection, 2023 (P. Mohammadnejad)
- Co-supervising PhD research project: Capture and detection of waterborne parasites using existing and emergent technologies, 2021 (T. Hall)
Thesis students
- Primary-supervising PG Thesis project: CRISPR based autocatalytic sensor for the detection of DNA methylation towards precision cancer diagnosis (K. Chen), 2024
- Primary-supervising PG Thesis project: CRISPR sensor for the detection of RNA methylation towards precision cancer diagnosis (F. Wu), 2024.
- Primary-supervising PG Thesis project: AlphaFold 3 powered CRISPR base aptamer sensor for the detection of small proteins (J. Zhang), 2024
- Primary-supervising UG Thesis project: CRISPR base electrochemical biosensor for cancer diagnosis (L. Stewart), 2024
- Primary-supervising PG Thesis project: The development of in vivo biosensor for long-term monitoring of inflammatory biomarkers (W. Fu), 2024. She was awarded the “Great Science Produces Great Patient Outcomes Award” at UNSW BESS x GSBmE Biomedical Engineering Projects Showcase and Industry Night 2024.
- Primary-supervised PG Thesis project: CRISPR/Cas powered aptasensor for the point-of-care diagnosis of IBD (K. Lyu), 2024
- Primary-supervised PG Thesis project: Precision diagnosis of single gene diseases using CRISPR technology (Y. Lin), 2024
- Primary-supervised UG Thesis project: Precision diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease using CRISPR technology (S. Xue), 2023-2024
- Primary-supervised UG Thesis project: CRISPR/Cas12a Mediated Biosensing Assay for Point-of-Care Testing of Calprotectin (S. Chia), 2023
- Primary-supervised PG Thesis project: Point-of-care testing of procalcitonin using lateral flow assay (J. Deodhar), 2023
My Teaching
- Industrial Training Coordinator, Biomedical Engineering, 2025
- Instructor, Biomedical Instrumentation - BIOM9640, UNSW, 2022-2023
- Instructor, Applications of Light in Engineering, Technology and the Life Sciences - BIOM9811, UNSW