Information theoretic approaches to optimise genome wide association studies with application to continuous and discrete traits. This project aims to develop new mathematical methods to find genetic associations from new genome-wide studies of colorectal cancer and breast cancer risk factors. If successful, this will result in improved use of expensive genetic data to better predict and understand diseases, conditions and other characteristics for humans, animals and plants.
I am an academic endocrinologist and clinician. I lead a large research program that investigates the links between hormones and diseases of ageing in women. Thus my research program addresses the contribution of changes in adrenal and ovarian steroids in
Detection of infrared-biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of canine neoplasia. This research hopes to discover infrared-biomarkers for canine cancers using synchrotron infrared and laser light. Many dog cancers are similar to human cancers so cancerous tissues and cells from dogs make excellent models for human cancer research. This project will provide new insights and technological approaches to cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Studying precancerous stem cells that cause T cell leukaemia. Recent research has identified abnormal stem cells that are the cause of T cell leukaemia. They are also resistant to therapeutics suggesting that they could be a cause of relapse. The aim of this project is to determine the abnormal pathways that cause these cells to become immortal and to determine new therapeutic strategies to eliminate them.
Examining the relationship between error processing, cognitive control and emotion: a cognitive neuroscience approach. The proposed research aims to contribute to current scientific thinking on how the processing of errors influences self-monitoring and cognitive performance. The ability to monitor one's cognitive performance deteriorates with normal ageing, and is particularly affected in a range of clinical conditions, where it is a reliable predictor of a poor prognostic outcome. This project ....Examining the relationship between error processing, cognitive control and emotion: a cognitive neuroscience approach. The proposed research aims to contribute to current scientific thinking on how the processing of errors influences self-monitoring and cognitive performance. The ability to monitor one's cognitive performance deteriorates with normal ageing, and is particularly affected in a range of clinical conditions, where it is a reliable predictor of a poor prognostic outcome. This project aims to clarify understanding of the cognitive and neural processes underlying self-monitoring, as an important first step to improving rehabilitation and management methods for age-related impairments such as Alzheimer's disease, and prominent mental health conditions such as schizophrenia.Read moreRead less
Understanding how cells compact and segregate DNA in vertebrates. How a cell compacts and divides its DNA is still a major unanswered question in biology. This project will determine the way in which a cell compacts its DNA nearly ten thousand fold to allow the faithful and accurate segregation to daughter nuclei.
Identification of genes regulating breast cancer progression and metastasis. Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in women in Australia. Although the treatments have improved over the last thirty years, many women still die from relapse of the disease. Our goal is to identify genes involved in the regulation of breast cancer progression and metastasis. This may lead to the discovery of druggable molecules for better targeted therapies for patients.
Structure and dynamics of a multiprotein-mRNA complex involved in the regulation of gene expression. RNA/protein interactions are now recognised as a major control point in the regulation of gene-expression. Proteins such as HuR and the poly(C)-binding proteins (PCBPs) act to stabilise and transport specific messenger (m)RNAs, and thus determine their translation levels. In contrast to such an important function, very little is known about these protein/mRNA interactions at an atomic level. The ....Structure and dynamics of a multiprotein-mRNA complex involved in the regulation of gene expression. RNA/protein interactions are now recognised as a major control point in the regulation of gene-expression. Proteins such as HuR and the poly(C)-binding proteins (PCBPs) act to stabilise and transport specific messenger (m)RNAs, and thus determine their translation levels. In contrast to such an important function, very little is known about these protein/mRNA interactions at an atomic level. The current study will investigate the structural and biophysical properties of a recently discovered HuR/PCBP/mRNA complex implicated in the regulation of androgen receptor expression. This information has the potential to assist in the development of drugs to reduce AR expression in prostate cancer.Read moreRead less
Probing membrane rafts using surface-selective multi-dimensional microscopy. The results of this project will provide fundamental insights into the role played by domains in cell membranes in the regulation of membrane protein function. These insights will create new avenues in the biotechnology industry for development of novel therapeutics aimed at disruption of membrane protein-protein interactions that cause aberant cell signalling in disease states such as cancer.
Identifying mitogenic signalling proteins with phosphatidyl inositol lipids. Health care of an ageing population is a national priority of the community. In order to understand the factors that control cell growth and death in cancer cells signalling proteins can be identified and studied and compared with model systems from quiescent cells. Using phospholipids attached to 'fishing lines' we can search for, identify and study the function of all the downstream signalling proteins in activated c ....Identifying mitogenic signalling proteins with phosphatidyl inositol lipids. Health care of an ageing population is a national priority of the community. In order to understand the factors that control cell growth and death in cancer cells signalling proteins can be identified and studied and compared with model systems from quiescent cells. Using phospholipids attached to 'fishing lines' we can search for, identify and study the function of all the downstream signalling proteins in activated cancer cells. This will provide the basic information for drug discovery processes to target specific molecules that inhibit and control the function of the signalling proteins implicated in the growth of cancer cells.Read moreRead less