Behind the Bio: Dr Yi (David) Ju

Fighting cancer often comes down to delivering the right treatment to the right place at the right time. That’s the challenge driving Dr Yi (David) Ju – and it’s one he’s tackling with tools powerful enough to rewrite how we think about medicine.

“My passion stems from the possibility of creating therapies that reach the right cells at the right time, minimising side effects and maximising benefit for patients,” he says.

Based at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) and La Trobe University’s School of Cancer Medicine, Dr Ju leads the Nanomedicine and Gene Therapeutics Laboratory, designing and delivering the next generation of cancer treatments.

“While our work is highly technical, the end goal is simple: to create treatments that work better, are safer, and can be made available to more people,” he says. “That’s the motivation behind every experiment we run.”

Dr Ju’s fascination with this challenge began as a materials chemist, intrigued by nanoparticles and their potential to navigate the body’s complex biology. Over time, his focus shifted toward combining this engineering with mRNA therapeutics, which use genetic instructions to tell cells how to make specific proteins to fight disease.

“mRNA and nanotechnology make it possible to design these instructions and the delivery vehicle with unprecedented precision,” he explains.

From vaccines to cancer therapy

The global success of mRNA–lipid nanoparticle (LNP) vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic showed how packaging mRNA in tiny fat-based particles can help it enter cells and deliver genetic instructions, which can rapidly produce safe, effective treatments. For Dr Ju, the next challenge is to adapt and refine this technology for cancer.

“The big questions driving my work are: How do we make LNPs safer for long-term and systemic use? How do we ensure they reach the right cells in the body? And how can we tailor them to each patient’s biology?”

His team is developing mRNA–LNP treatments that train the body’s immune system to fight cancer. One project aims to turn the body’s own T cells – immune cells that can find and kill cancer – into CAR T cells, engineered to target cancer more precisely, without having to make them in a lab. Another is working on mRNA-encoded ‘intrabodies’ – antibodies designed to reach targets inside cancer cells once thought untreatable.

The group also studies how nanoparticles behave in the body: how they interact with blood proteins, how the immune system responds and how the mRNA breaks down over time. “This deeper understanding helps us design safer, more effective mRNA-enabled cancer immunotherapies that reach the right cells and minimise side effects,” Dr Ju says.

Collaboration for impact

Partnerships and recognition have played a crucial role in Dr Ju’s career. Winning the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellowship gave him the resources and independence to start his own research group, building on earlier milestones like the University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Grant, the Victoria Fellowship and the RMIT Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship. “Each of these gave me new skills, networks, and confidence,” he says.

He also works closely with Professor Stephen Kent at the Doherty Institute on studies of PEG immunogenicity – how the immune system responds to a common nanoparticle coating – and how mRNA vaccines travel through the body. Other partners include the BASE mRNA facility for custom mRNA production, and clinicians at the Austin and Alfred hospitals, who provide patient samples for real-world context.

“For researchers, industry collaboration brings resources, scale-up expertise, and a direct pathway to translation,” he says. “For industry partners, working with academic labs offers access to frontier science, specialised facilities, and a pipeline of innovative ideas that may not emerge in a purely commercial setting.”

Looking ahead, Dr Ju’s long-term vision is to make ONJCRI a global leader in mRNA–LNP cancer therapeutics. “I want to see the treatments we are developing progress into early-phase clinical trials in close partnership with clinicians and leading pharmaceutical companies,” he says.

“Ultimately, I hope our work will deliver cancer treatments that are safer, more precise, and more accessible, improving outcomes for patients who currently have few or no effective options.”