Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
Psoriasis is a disease characterised by accelerated skin growth and shedding which effects between 2 and 5% of the population and incurs high costs to patients and health systems. In the absence of a lasting cure, affected people suffer from lifelong bouts of skin lesions and potential side effects of treatments, lowering overall quality of life. This overall goal of this project is to better understand psoriasis by examining the mechanisms involved at a functional level through comparative proteomic analysis of affected and unaffected skin.
Overall it is expected this project will ultimately lead to the identification of novel potential targets for therapeutic intervention. The specific aims of this project are to:
- Undertake advanced proteomic analysis of skin biopsies obtained from psoriasis-affected skin compared to skin that is obtained from non–affected areas from the same patient
- identify proteins that are differentially expressed in psoriasis–affected skin compared to skin that is obtained from non–affected areas from the same patient
- confirm that the candidate proteins/target molecules identified in Aim 1 are similarly differentially expressed in other patient samples psoriasis–affected skin compared to skin that is obtained from non–affected areas from the same patient.
Methods and techniques that will be developed in the course of this project: This project will adopt cutting edge proteomic biomarker detection techniques such as surface enhanced laser desorption/ionisation time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI TOF MS), high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS), as well as more traditional protein biochemistry techniques such as SDS PAGE and western blot analysis.
- Study level
- Honours
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Contact
- Please contact the supervisor for enquiries.
Professor Zee Upton
