Nham Tran

Nham is both a teacher and a cancer researcher, specializing in small RNA biology and diagnostic technologies. He has dedicated his career to creating tools for diagnosing diseases. Nham earned his PhD from Johnson and Johnson and UNSW, where he focused on studying small RNA molecules and how they can be used in real-world applications.

During his postdoctoral training, Nham led a team that published the first study characterizing microRNAs in head and neck cancers. This groundbreaking research led him to come up with the idea of using these microRNAs as markers to detect Head and Neck Cancers early on. He was also the first to understand the role of these molecules in salivary gland tumors and holds several patents in this area. Currently, he's leading a team of researchers who are studying the RNA aspects of oral cancers.

Aside from his work, Nham is an educator and served as the Deputy Head of School for Teaching (2019-2022). He teaches engineering students about molecular diagnostics, runs workshops on qPCR, and is involved in mentoring programs.

In his free time, Nham loves going rock climbing in the Blue Mountains with his family, exploring different parts of the world, writing awesome science papers, and building PCR machines.