Brendan Kennedy

Professor Brendan Kennedy is a leading academic in biomedical engineering and optical imaging, serving as Group Leader of the Bioimaging Research and Innovation for Translational Engineering Laboratory (BRITElab) at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. He holds a Full Professor position in the School of Engineering at The University of Western Australia (UWA) and is a Visiting Professor in the Institute of Physics at Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland.

• B.Sc. in Electronic Engineering (2001)
• Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering (2006)

His research focuses on developing advanced optical coherence tomography (OCT) and optical elastography techniques for clinical applications in surgery, mechanobiology, and tissue engineering. These technologies enable high-resolution, real-time imaging of tissue elasticity and micro-scale mechanics, revolutionizing cancer detection and surgical margin assessment.

Recent publications highlight his pioneering work in 3D mechanical characterization of tumors, intraoperative imaging for breast-conserving surgery, and multimodal systems integrating OCT with fluorescence lifetime imaging. His team has also advanced phantom designs for calibration, strain retrieval algorithms, and portable optical palpation devices for telehealth and low-resource settings.

• West Australian 40under40 Award
• Elected Optica Fellow (2024)

Prof. Kennedy has secured over $15 million in competitive research grants and $5 million in industry contracts, driving translational projects like OncoRes Medical, a startup commercializing his optical imaging innovations. He holds 40+ patents and co-founded BioZone, a UWA initiative fostering interdisciplinary biomedical research.