Arnold Ju received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, USA. In 2014, he joined the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Monash University, Melbourne as a junior postdoc; and relocated in 2015 to Sydney, to join the Heart Research Institute. In late 2019, Dr Ju joined the University of Sydney (USYD)’s new BME school as a senior lecturer and started up the Mechanobiology and Biomechanics Laboratory (MBL). By working with Charles Perkins Centre, Sydney Nano Institute, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, MBL is now developing point-of-care microdevices, artificial intelligence imaging modalities and mechano-medicine screening platform to predict, diagnose and treat thrombosis. Dr Ju currently holds an Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship, working at the interface between mechanical engineering and cardiovascular biology. His team has pioneered multiple biomechanical nanotools, including blood clot-on-chip microfluidic devices (Nature Materials 2019), single-platelet biomembrane force probes (Nature Communications 2018), and 4-D haemodynamic modelling (Nature 2021). His microsystem engineered technologies will facilitate physicians’ decisions on diagnosis, monitor blood clotting progression, optimise treatment courses, and/or even deploy on an ambulance, smartphone-based and delivered to an ageing population who are unable to move around, remote consumers in regional Australia, underdeveloped countries, and socially distanced general public in COVID era who are unable to access clinical resources in CBD.

Keywords: Mechanobiology, Biomechanics, Organ-on-chip, Biofabrication, Single-molecule biophysics, Thrombosis, Inflammation, Stroke, Haematology By linking the mechanical forces behind blood flow and their effects on hematological proteins and blood clotting cells, Dr Ju has established a new field called 'mechanobiology'. His work finds better solutions to help diagnose, treat, and control blood clotting diseases. To investigate mechanobiology at single cellular to molecular scales, Dr Ju has invented a nano-tool called the Biomembrane Force Probe (BFP). It provides precise controls and quantitative readouts in both mechanical and chemical terms, which is particularly suited for live-cell mechanosensing studies over the traditional methods in biochemistry and cell biology that are usually population-averaged and non-realtime. He also uses use single-cell biomechanical nanotools to study the mechanism of platelets that produce thrombi in a complex hemodynamic microenvironment. Understanding the fundamental mechanobiology is not enough. Funded by NSW Boosting Business Innovation Program partnered with Nikon Australia Healthcare, Dr Ju is leading an engineering team to produce a number of microfluidic devices and microvessel-on-chip platforms that can be used by clinicians to diagnose and predict blood clot risk factors for individuals and potentially telehealth. The neurologist of the NSW Statewide Telestroke Service and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital will combine the microdevices with ultrasound, CT and MRI for better prediction and pre-screening of people at risk for blood clots.

Fang, G., Lu, H., Al-Nakashli, R., Chapman, R., Zhang, Y., Ju, A., Lin, G., Stenzel, M., Jin, D. (2022). Enabling peristalsis of human colon tumor organoids on microfluidic chips. Biofabrication, 14(1), 15006. Wang, H., Obeidy, P., Wang, Z., Zhao, Y., Wang, Y., Su, P., Cox, C., Ju, A. (2022). Fluorescence-coupled micropipette aspiration assay to examine calcium mobilization caused by red blood cell mechanosensing. European Biophysics Journal, 51(2), 135-146. Ju, A., Kossmann, S., Zhao, C., Moldovan, L., Zhang, Y., Ramasundara, S., Zhou, F., Lu, H., Alwis, I., Schoenwaelder, S., Yuan, Y., Jackson, S. (2022). Microfluidic post method for 3-dimensional modeling of platelet-leukocyte interactions. Analyst, 147(6), 1222-1235. Shen, B., Tasdogan, A., Ubellacker, J., Zhang, J., Nosyreva, E., Du, L., Murphy, M., Hu, S., Yi, Y., Kara, N., Zhao, C., Ju, A., Hu, Z., et al (2021). A mechanosensitive peri-arteriolar niche for osteogenesis and lymphopoiesis. Nature, 591(7850), 438-444. Zhao, C., Vatankhah, P., Goh, T., Wang, J., Chen, X., Kashani, M., Zheng, K., Li, Z., Ju, A. (2021). Computational fluid dynamics simulations at micro-scale stenosis for microfluidic thrombosis model characterization. MCB Molecular and Cellular Biomechanics, 18(1), 1-10. Zhang, Y., Ramasundara, S., Preketes-Tardiani, R., Cheng, V., Lu, H., Ju, A. (2021). Emerging Microfluidic Approaches for Platelet Mechanobiology and Interplay With Circulatory Systems. Frontiers in Cardovascular Medicine, 8, 766513. Chen, Y., Ju, A. (2020). Biomechanical thrombosis: The dark side of force and dawn of mechano-medicine. Stroke and Vascular Neurology, 5(2), 185-197. Zhao, C., Vatankhah, P., Goh, T., Ju, A. (2020). Computational fluid dynamic simulation for the stenosis microfluidic thrombosis model characterization. 24th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2020), Virtual, Online: Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society. Obeidy, P., Ju, A., Oehlers, S., Zulkhernain, N., Lee, Q., Galeano Nino, J., Kwan, R., Tikoo, S., Cavanagh, L., Mrass, P., Cook, A., Jackson, S., Roediger, B., Weninger, W., et al (2020). Partial loss of actin nucleator Actin Related Protein 2/3 activity triggers blebbing in primary T lymphocytes. Immunology and Cell Biology, 98(2), 93-133. Chen, Y., Ju, A., Zhou, F., Liao, J., Xue, L., Su, Q., Jin, D., Yuan, Y., Lu, H., Jackson, S., Zhu, C. (2019). An integrin alpha(IIb)beta(3) intermediate affinity state mediates biomechanical platelet aggregation. Nature Materials, 18(7), 760-769. [More Information] Zhu, C., Chen, Y., Ju, A. (2019). Dynamic bonds and their roles in mechanosensing. Current Opinion In Chemical Biology, 53, 88-97. Chen, Y., Liao, J., Yuan, Z., Li, K., Liu, B., Ju, A., Zhu, C. (2019). Fast Force Loading Disrupts Molecular Binding Stability in Human and Mouse Cell Adhesions. MCB Molecular and Cellular Biomechanics, 16(3), 211-223. Ren, W., Wen, S., Tawfik, S., Su, Q., Lin, G., Ju, A., Ford, M., Ghodke, H., Van Oijen, A., Jin, D. (2018). Anisotropic functionalization of upconversion nanoparticles. Chemical Science, 9(18), 4352-4358. Xu, X., Wang, Y., Adili, R., Ju, A., Spring, C., Jin, J., Yang, H., Neves, M., Chen, P., Yang, Y., Jackson, S., et al (2018). Apolipoprotein A-IV binds (alpha)IIb(beta)3 integrin and inhibits thrombosis. Nature Communications, 9(1), 1-18. Butera, D., Passam, F., Ju, A., Cook, K., Woon, H., Aponte-Santamaria, C., Gardiner, E., Davis, A., Murphy, D., Bronowska, A., Jackson, S., Hogg, P., et al (2018). Autoregulation of von Willebrand factor function by a disulfide bond switch. Science Advances, 4(2), 1-12. Ju, A., Zhu, C. (2017). Benchmarks of Biomembrane Force Probe Spring Constant Models. Biophysical Journal, 113(12), 2842-2845. Ju, A., Chen, Y., Li, K., Yuan, Z., Liu, B., Jackson, S., Zhu, C. (2017). Dual Biomembrane Force Probe enables single-cell mechanical analysis of signal crosstalk between multiple molecular species. Scientific Reports, 7(14185), 1-12. Chen, Y., Ju, A., Rushdi, M., Ge, C., Zhu, C. (2017). Receptor-mediated cell mechanosensing. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 28(23), 3134-3155. Ju, A., Chen, Z., Xue, L., Du, X., Zhu, W. (2016). Cooperative unfolding of distinctive mechanoreceptor domains transduces force into signals. eLife, 5, 1-24.