Rate My Professor Khay Fong

Dr Khay Fong serves as Honorary Lecturer in the School of Science within the College of Engineering, Science and Environment at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Previously, she was Lecturer in Chemistry at the University's School of Environmental and Life Sciences from 2019 to 2023. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy from Monash University in 2013 and a Graduate Certificate in Commercialising Research from the same institution. Her postdoctoral career includes a Victorian Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (2014-2015) and Monash University (2016), followed by a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for Women from the Swiss National Science Foundation at the Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Switzerland (2017-2018).

The core of Dr Fong's research focuses on the self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules into nanostructures and nanoparticles to engineer advanced nanomaterials for biomedical and environmental applications. Her projects develop on-demand drug delivery systems triggered by external stimuli such as heat, laser light, pH shifts, and digestion, while investigating the influence of physiological fluids, biomolecules, and the human microbiome on these systems. Additional efforts address microplastics pollution through citizen science initiatives in Australian and Pacific oceans. Utilizing techniques like synchrotron scattering, light scattering, and novel amphiphile synthesis, her work spans supramolecular chemistry, pharmaceutical delivery technologies, and colloid and surface chemistry. Notable publications include "Lipidic drug delivery systems are responsive to the human microbiome" (Caukwell et al., Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2025), "Exploiting salting effects to tune morphology and phase boundaries of lipidic mesophases" (Yu et al., Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2026), "Intermolecular Dynamics of Monoglyceride Mesophases with Their Biomacromolecular Corona" (Fong et al., Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2025), "Structural Transformation in Vesicles upon Hydrolysis of Phosphatidylethanolamine and Phosphatidylcholine with Phospholipase C" (Fong et al., Langmuir, 2019), and book chapters on nanoparticle behaviour in complex media (2019) and stimuli-responsive lipid-based self-assembled systems (2012). Dr Fong has received the Australasian Colloid and Interface Society Lectureship (2020), Faculty Early Career Researcher Award (Monash University, 2016), and Australia China Young Scientist Exchange Program (2019). She teaches analytical, physical, and colloidal chemistry, supervises postgraduate research, and contributes to equity and diversity efforts as a member of the Australasian Colloid and Interface Society.