DrDavid Martinez Martin

• Development of new technologies and instrumentation
• Identification of real-time cell mass dynamics in health and disease
• Integration of machine learning and advanced time series analysis to develop new single-cell phenotyping strategies for diagnosis
• Molecular and cellular biophysics
• Bionanotechnologies
• Scanning probe microscopies and fluorescence microscopies.

Cell growth is a fundamental process for all living organisms, yet it is poorly understood, partly due to our inability to detect changes in mass at cellular level. Dr David Martinez-Martin’s research aims to develop technologies that can measure and monitor cell growth in real time, enhancing our understanding of cell development and ultimately enabling us to more efficiently diagnose, monitor and treat conditions such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and ageing.

"Dysregulation of cell mass is a critical underlying force in the development and progression of many diseases, so understanding how cells regulate their mass has enormous potential to transform the way we diagnose, monitor and treat disease."

"A big part of my research focuses on identifying the principles governing how cells regulate their own mass and growth. To do this I’ve developed a technology that allows us to track the mass of single or multiple cells in real time. Known as Picobalance or Cytomass, it is fully compatible with state-of-the-art optical microscopies such us differential interference contrast and fluorescent microscopy, enabling correlation of cellular mass, state and morphology."

“I’ve been working in this area since 2012, and I joined the University of Sydney in 2019. My work, which is at the forefront of nanobiotechnology, has enormous potential to be translated to biomedical and technological applications, and the University’s multidisciplinary research focus supports my vision of having an impact across the fields of physics and biology as well as engineering. My research is important to deciphering the fundamental mysteries of the most basic units of life – the cell – and hence is perfectly aligned with the strategic research priorities of the University.”