Dr Rui SANG
Dr Rui Sang is a Research Associate at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), specialising in biomaterials engineering, nanoparticle-enabled cancer therapeutics, and CRISPR-based gene therapy and diagnostic technologies. Her research integrates molecular biology and translational nanomedicine to develop innovative solutions for precision cancer treatment and molecular diagnostics. She has authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications (H-index 11; >660 citations) in leading journals including Nature Communications, EBioMedicine, Nano Letters, and Acta Biomaterialia. Her work has contributed to competitive research funding exceeding AUD $600,000, including support from MRFF and NICE-UNSW initiatives. She holds national phase PCT patents in CRISPR biosensing and radiation-activated photodynamic therapy. Dr Sang combines strong research productivity with active academic leadership, serving as Co-Chair of RACI Women in Chemistry (NSW Branch) and contributing to journal editorial activities. She is committed to advancing impactful biomedical innovation while fostering excellence in research, mentorship, and inclusive academic practice.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
1. NICE-UNSW "Proof-of-Scale" Fund, 2024-2025, co-CI
2. Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), 2026-2028, co-CI
3. Australian Centre for NanoMedicine (ACN) Travel Award 2026, CI
4. Research Scholarship Award, Sydney Vital, 2021, CI
- Engineering ECA Award (Innovation and Engagement Award), UNSW (2025)
- Research Training Program International Scholarship, Australian Government (2020-2024)
- Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad (2023)
- Development and Research Training Grant (DRTG) (2023)
- PhD Scholarship Top-up Awards, TCRN (2021)
- Research Scholarship Award, Sydney Vital (2021)
- Ultrasensitive CRISPR biosensors assisted by nucleic acid mediators. (2023) National Phase Patent. International application No. PCT/AU2023/051144.
- Radiation-activated photodynamic therapy for cancer treatment. (2025) National Phase Patent. International application No. PCT/AU2026/050109.
- Crispr-Based Nucleic Acid Detection and Gene Editing Systems, Methods and Reagents. (2026) Australian Provisional Patent. Application No. 2026903242.
- Member, the School Research Committee, School of Biomedical Engineering, UNSW, 2026-now
- Co-chair of Committee RACI Women in Chemistry, NSW branch, 2024-2025
- Secretary of Committee RACI Women in Chemistry, NSW branch, 2023-2024
- PhD representative of Committee RACI Women in Chemistry, NSW branch, 2022-2023
- Member, RACI, 2022-now
- Member, IEEE EMBC, 2023-now
- Member, ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), 2020-now
- Member, Australian Centre for NanoMedicine (ACN), 2020-now
- Member, Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR), 2022-2024
- Session chair in "Performing Research in Industry" session in the “Performing Research” series organized by the IEEE EMBS Student Activities Committee as part of EMBC on Tuesday 25th July 2023.
- Guest Judge at the 2021 Year 9 Science Conference at Sydney Girls High School Anzac parade Surry Hills
- Judge for the Autumn 2024 UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT(FEIT) - Engineering Capstone Awards
- Assessor for honors project on 26th March in UTS.
- Assessor for master student (Zichen Xu) in UTS, whose project is focused on nuclear-targeted delivery of CRISPR by using polymer nanocarriers.
- Guest Editor for the journal of Biomedicines: Special Issue "Application of Biomedical Materials in Cancer Therapy" in 2024-2025.
My Research Supervision
- Co-supervising PhD research project: Targeted polymer lipid hybrid nanoparticles for breast cancer treatment (K. Zahra), 2024-now
- Co-supervising thesis student research project: Sensitive detection of RNA methylation using CRISPR/Cas13a biosensing system (F. Wu), 2025.
- Co-supervising PhD research project: CRISPR-based gene editing for enhanced Car-T cell therapy (H. Mei), 2024-now.
- Mentor undergraduate students (I. Joun) research project: Targeting and treatment options using liposomes/polymer nanoparticles for metastatic breast cancer, June 2021 - December 2021.
- Mentor undergraduate students (A.K. Numkarng) research project: Therapeutic Liposomes modified by anti-EGFR antibody for Glioblastoma treatment, January 2021 - September 2021.
- Mentor undergraduate students (M. Stramotas) research project: Anti-EGFR and anti-ICAM1 antibodies modified dual-targeting liposomes for breast cancer treatment, September 2020 - September 2021.
- Mentor undergraduate students (S. Shankar) research project: Active Liposomes for the treatment of Breast Cancer., February 2020 - December 2020.
My Teaching
- Lecture, CEIC6712 - Lipid and liposome nanoparticles in pharmaceutical engineering, UNSW, 2025-now
- Demonstrator, Fundamentals of Biomedical Engineering Studio B - 41163, UTS, 2022-2023
- Instructor, Fundamentals of Biomedical Engineering Studio B - 41163, UTS, 2024.