IDENTIFYING BIOMARKERS FOR IMMUNOTHERAPY USING SPATIAL BIOLOGY With Associate Professor Arutha Kulasinghe @aruthak, Chair in Spatial Medicine and Principal Research Fellow, Frazer Institute, University of Queensland @UQ_News, & Founding Scientific Director, Queensland Spatial Biology Centre @Qld_SBC, Wesley Research Institute @WesleyResearch, Queensland, Australia RESEARCHER PROFILE Filmed in Sydney, Australia | October 2026 Associate Professor Arutha Kulasinghe is a Principal Research Fellow at The University of Queensland's Frazer Institute, where he leads the Clinical-oMx Lab. He holds the inaugural Brazil Family Chair in Spatial Medicine and is the founding Scientific Director of the Queensland Spatial Biology Centre at the Wesley Research Institute. He completed his PhD at Queensland University of Technology. A/Prof Kulasinghe is a pioneer of spatial biology in the Asia-Pacific region and among the first to apply spatial transcriptomics, proteomics and interactomics there. He combines these technologies in an integrated multi-omics approach to understand the biology that drives disease. His research centres on immuno-oncology in lung, skin, and head and neck cancers, with a particular focus on the tumour microenvironment and on finding biomarkers that predict which patients will respond to immunotherapy. He also develops liquid biopsy approaches for lung and head and neck cancer, and has led tissue-atlas studies of infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and pandemic influenza. He has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, in journals including Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, The Lancet Microbe and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. His honours include Cure Cancer's Researcher of the Year (2023), The Australian's Top Innovators (2024), a Research Australia UNSW Frontiers Award (2026) and InDaily Queensland's 40 Under 40 (2026). He has also been named on The Courier-Mail's Queensland Power Lists for technology and medicine (2026). His work is supported by the MRFF, NHMRC, US Department of Defense, Cancer Australia, Cure Cancer, industry, and hospital and philanthropic partners. Source: Supplied Media Access Credit: Research Australia 2025-26 Health and Medical Research Awards @ResAustralia SEE OTHER RESEARCHER PROFILES Bench Side Story @BenchSideStory benchsidestory.com Get your own interviews and research published on Bench Side Story benchsidestory.com/contact/