Ewa Goldys

Professor Ewa Goldys is a distinguished academic at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), serving as a Professor in the School of Engineering with a focus on Biomedical Engineering. She holds the prestigious position of Deputy Director at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics (CNBP), where she leads partnerships, knowledge transfer, and research commercialization efforts. Her work spans interdisciplinary research connecting engineering, medicine, and biology, with significant contributions to biophotonics and nanotechnology applications in healthcare.

Professor Goldys' research interests center around advanced imaging techniques, particularly autofluorescence characterization, which provides a non-invasive metabolic 'fingerprint' for distinguishing healthy from diseased cells. Her work has significant applications in cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. She has pioneered research in fluorescent and luminescent nanomaterials for biological applications, developing innovative approaches for high-contrast, background-free imaging using time-gating techniques. Her research portfolio also includes significant contributions to CRISPR-based biosensing, stem cell characterization, and non-invasive diagnostic approaches using multispectral imaging.

Her publication record demonstrates a clear trend toward increasingly sophisticated applications of autofluorescence imaging combined with machine learning and molecular techniques. Recent work integrates hyperspectral imaging with transcriptomics, develops CRISPR-based point-of-care diagnostics, and applies autofluorescence techniques to diverse medical challenges from kidney disease diagnosis to immune cell characterization. The interdisciplinary nature of her work spans oncology, immunology, nephrology, and regenerative medicine.

Professor Goldys has received notable recognition for her work, including:

• Eureka award in 2016 for Innovative Use of Technology

Her research leadership has secured substantial funding, including directing the $23 million ARC investment in the CNBP (matched by $17 million from partners), establishing the $2 million ARC/NHMRC Network 'Fluorescence Applications in Biotechnology and Life Sciences,' and leading research that leveraged an additional $155 million in external funding. She has founded the Optical Characterisation Facility at Macquarie University and has been instrumental in establishing international research networks in biophotonics.

Professor Goldys has made significant contributions to the international biophotonics community through conference organization, having chaired 11 conferences including SPIE 'Biophotonics Australasia' and serving as Track Chair for Nanobiophotonics at BIOS, the world's largest biomedical optics meeting. Her work has established foundational methodologies in autofluorescence characterization that continue to drive innovation in label-free medical diagnostics.