Dr Lining Ju
Conjoint Lecturer
Heart Research Institute
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
Member of the Charles Perkins Centre
Biographical details
Dr Arnold Lining Ju was a National Heart Foundation of Australia Postdoctoral Fellow with Paul Korner Innovation Award (top ranked applicant) at the Heart Research Institute and a lecturer at the Charles Perkins Centre in the University of Sydney. He completed his Ph.D. studies with SigmaXi best thesis honor on biomedical engineering and biomechanics at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Emory University, GA, USA in 2008-2013. In early 2014, Dr. Ju moved to Australia to pursue postdoctoral studies in NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow Prof Shaun Jackson’s lab applying mechanobiology approaches to understanding molecular causes of thrombosis in cardiovascular diseases and complications in diabetes. Since my PhD in 2013-Dec, he has published his biomedical engineering works in quality journals including Nature Materials, Nature Communications (x3), eLife (x2), Science Advances, PNAS, J Biol Chem, Mol Biol Cell, Blood, and Biophysical J across the disciplines of mechanobiology, biomechanical engineering, haematology and cardiovascular diseases
Research interests
I have always been fascinated with the universal forces that make things move and behave the way they do at any scale. My early fascination grew into an intellectual need to explain these phenomena, underpinning my interest in mechanical and biomedical engineering. It was my father’s heart attack in the first year of my PhD, where his blood vessels were occluded by clots, that taught me the shear force of blood flow has a critical effect. I was convinced that my research should solve real-world problems. These days I apply my expertise to understand how some specialised proteins in our blood can actually sense force to enable the development of new treatments and preventative measures that will reduce the loss of life.
I have developed a state-of-the-art biomechanical nanotool (Biomembrane force probe ‘BFP’, >US$500K) and established the first of its kind in Australia to study mechanobiology in cardiovascular systems, in particular to investigate how haemodynamic force in blood flow regulates platelet thrombotic functions at the Charles Perkins Centre and Heart Research Institute. This nanotool represents a significant departure from traditional biological studies of protein-protein and cell-cell interactions after prolonged incubation and is uniquely suitable for studying these interactions in rapidly circulating blood where these interactions occur repeatedly, but very briefly. It allows me to carve out an exciting niche to study thrombotic diseases (such as heart attack and stroke) in a more physiologically relevant environment, leading to new diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
Current projects
Recently, I have been working with Profs Shaun Jackson, Cheng Zhu and the colleagues at University of Sydney, Monash, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University and the Scripps Institute identified a previously unrecognised compression force-sensing mechanism utilised by platelets to regulate the adhesive function of platelet integrin receptor. This biomechanical adhesive function is dysregulated in diabetes, leading to a shear-specific enhancement in integrin-mediated platelet adhesion and aggregation in vitro and in vivo. In the context of thrombosis and cardiovascular diseases, we found dysregulation of this compressive force-sensing mechanism may represent a distinct diabetic prothrombotic phenotype that is resistant to commonly employed antiplatelet therapies: aspirin and clopidogrel. Importantly, we have defined a new therapeutic approach to reduce the compressive forcesensing and biomechanical integrin activation – through inhibition of the type I PI 3-Kinase 110. This may ultimately lead to a new treatment to combat the fatal thrombotic disease for patients with diabetes. Reflecting the significance, we recently published this in Nature Communications.
Awards and honours
2018 Australian Society of Biophysics (ASB) Young Biophysicist Award Finalist
2018 Australian Vascular Biology Society (AVBS) Achievement and Career Development Awards.
2018 The Cardiac Society of Australia (CSANZ) Outstanding Early Career Cardiovascular Researcher
2018 Heart Research Institute Best Publication Award. Conferred by NSW Minister for Health
2017 Sydney Local Health District - Annual Health Research Infrastructure Award (AHRIA) Conferred by NSW Minister for Health
2017 The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Kanematsu Research Award.
2017 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Young Investigator Award
2016 Sydney Medical School Nigel Clarke Award for the Most Outstanding Early Career Researcher
2015 Heart Research Institute Blackmores Young Achiever Award.
2015 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Young Investigator Award.
2015 Thrombosis & Haemostasis Society of Australia and New Zealand Travel Grant.
2014 Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Award.
2013 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Young Investigator Award.
2012 American Society of Hematology Achievement Award.
Keywords
Diabetes; Biomedical engineering; Cardiovascular diseases; Haematology; Biophysics
Clinical Specialty
Haematology
International links
(Institute of Biophysics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing)
Dr Jizhong Lou |
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(Peking University, College of Engineering, Beijing)
Prof Shiyi Chen |
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(Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia)
Profs Cheng Zhu, Larry McIntire, Wilbur Lam and Hang Lu |
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(Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts)
Asst/Prof Srigokul Upadhyayula |
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(The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego, California)
Prof Zaverio Ruggeri and Dr Yunfeng Chen |
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(University of Washington, Seattle, Washington)
Prof Jing-fei Dong |
Selected grants
2019
- Mechanobiology: a new model of integrin activation by membrane tension; Ju L; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA).
2018
- Towards a novel 'mechanomedicine' against the sticky clot problem of diabetes by targeting oxidoreductase ERp5; Chiu J, Ju L; Charles Perkins Centre/Early-Mid Career Researcher Seed Funding grant.
- Develop high-throughput single cell analysis for diabetic platelet prothrombotic phenotype; Ju L; National Heart Foundation of Australia/Collaboration and Exchange Award.
2017
- Deep profiling of platelet hyperactive phenotypes in diabetes; Ju L; National Heart Foundation of Australia/Postdoctoral Fellowships (Biomedical, Clinical, Public Health, Health Services).
Selected publications
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