Many congratulations to Dr Surasak (Tony) Kasetsirikul. It’s a bittersweet ending to a long journey, but one that is meant to be celebrated. We are very proud of your achievement and contributions!

Tony has recently been awarded the Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering by Griffith University. This is a significant milestone for him as it fulfils one of his childhood dreams. Having completed an M. Eng. Degree and working for five years as a visiting researcher in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Tony decided to embark on a PhD journey in 2019 after receiving a prestigious postgraduate research scholarship by the Griffith University.

Growing up wondering why people always struggle to access adequate healthcare despite many advanced medical technologies available, even in developed countries, Tony believes that there should be alternative ways to help people access good healthcare services with economical options. One of the most convincing materials that are inexpensive, equipment-free, and biodegradable is paper. One typical example of paper-based devices is the pregnancy strip test. Therefore, applying paper-based devices to disease-specific biomolecule detection could potentially be used as an alternative tool for pre-screening and medical diagnosis.

Tony’s thesis focused on developing paper-based analytical devices for disease specific biomolecule detection. During his three-year PhD candidature, under the supervision of Prof. Nam-Trung Nguyen and Associate Prof. Muhammad J. A. Shiddiky (https://shiddiky.com), he studied mathematical models for liquid wicking on paper. He applied simple (only two steps needed), rapid (less than 10 min) and low-cost (less than 1 cent) fabrication for paper-based devices. Furthermore, he has made an outstanding contribution to the translation of developed existing colorimetric-, fluorescent-, and electrochemical-based detection of various biomolecules with a huge biomedical impact on paper-based devices. These protocols have the potential to be further developed for automation and portability, which could be applied to wearable sensing devices, disposable diagnostic kits, and handheld devices.

Currently, Tony continues working in Shiddiky’s group as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and extending his knowledge of engineering and analytical chemistry to contribute to developing portable devices for water-borne pathogen analysis.