Arutha Kulasinghe

Dr Arutha Kulasinghe is a Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) within the School of Medicine, Faculty of Health. His research focuses on spatial profiling of tumor microenvironments, liquid biopsy technologies, and immunotherapy biomarkers for head and neck cancers and lung cancer. He holds a PhD from QUT (2017) and an Honours degree in Medical Microbiology from the University of Pretoria. Supported by NHMRC, Cure Cancer, and GPRWMF grants, his work bridges clinical and translational research.

Key achievements include developing PD-L1 biomarkers for head and neck cancers, spatial mapping of tumor-immune interactions, and identifying SARS-CoV-2 placental dysfunction signatures. He leads the Clinical-oMx Lab at Frazer Institute, University of Queensland, and collaborates with national/international institutions. Awards include the Peter Doherty NHMRC Early Career Fellowship and the AusBiotech Dual COVID-19 Award for biomarker triage systems.

• Education: PhD (QUT, 2017), BSc (Honours) Medical Microbiology (Pretoria, South Africa)
• Research Themes: Spatial biology, liquid biopsies, tumor microenvironment dynamics, immunotherapy response prediction
• Funding Agencies: NHMRC, Cure Cancer Australia, Garnett Passe & Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation

Dr Kulasinghe's lab focuses on translating spatial multi-omics data into clinical tools for personalized cancer therapy. Current projects include digital spatial profiling of head and neck tumors and predictive biomarker development for immunotherapy.