QUT offers a diverse range of student topics for Honours, Masters and PhD study. Search to find a topic that interests you or propose your own research topic to a prospective QUT supervisor. You may also ask a prospective supervisor to help you identify or refine a research topic.
Found 45 matching student topics
Displaying 25–36 of 45 results
Post-translational modification of proteins in cancer
The Protein Ablation Cancer Therapeutics (PACT) laboratory are interested in understanding how post-translational modifications contribute to the tumorigenic functions of proteins in cancer cells. We hypothesise that particular post-translational modifications are required for the cancer-associated function of a protein and that prevention of these would be a useful approach to treating cancer.The aim of this project is to select a candidate protein from our database of potential targets, confirm the protein is modified, identify the key modified lysine in the …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Prostate cancer transcriptomics (Honours and Master of Philosophy)
At the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre QLD, we are interested in the cellular adaptive response processes leading to therapy resistance in advanced prostate cancer.A focus area of our research is studying the transcriptome changes in prostate cancer cell lines, xenograft models and patient samples using RNA sequencing technologies.By integrating our large in-house repository of RNAseq data sets with publicly available studies, this project will further explore the cellular heterogeneity of prostate tumours and the plasticity of cancer cells in …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Targeting a novel adaptive neovascular response of the tumour microenvironment to treat advanced prostate cancer
Prostate cancer (PCa) is a significant healthcare burden in Australia. Androgen signalling inhibition using androgen receptor (AR) antagonists is the principal systemic therapy for advanced PCa. Androgen receptors (AR) are an attractive therapeutic target due to their elevated expression in tumour epithelial cells and the retention of androgen signalling throughout the disease continuum.However, patients eventually develop resistance to treatment, and PCa cells metastasise to distant bone and visceral organs, representing an incurable stage of the disease. Understanding mechanisms that contribute …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Understanding the role of the hSSB1 protein in the response to UV induced DNA damage
Melanoma is the 4th most common cancer in Australia. The link between skin cancer and UV exposure is now well established. If a DNA damage induced by UV exposure is left unrepaired, the mutation generated in the genome can lead to cell death or cancer. It is thus highly important to understand of how a cell can repair DNA damage. The main pathway to repair UV DNA damaged is the nucleotide excision repair pathway (NER) (Kamileri I. et al, Trends …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Improving platinum-based chemotherapy by targeting drug metabolism in lung cancer
Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer accounting for 18.4% of all cancer-related deaths. Platinum-based chemotherapy remains a key treatment option for most people living with this disease, either as adjuvant therapy or in combination with immunotherapy. However, resistance to therapy is a significant issue in the treatment of lung cancer. Novel therapeutic strategies combined with predictive biomarkers chemotherapy response are needed to transform the clinical management of NSCLC.Our published work has identified novel biomarkers and druggable proteins from deregulated protein …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health
Developing in vitro 3D models to understand liver disease
Several studies have demonstrated the appropriateness of 3D organoid cultures over the conventional 2D cultures, the advantages of 3D models include replicating the complex attributes of the liver beyond liver-specific metabolism, such as increased cell density, organization, and cell–cell signalling, O2 zonation.In this project we will establish a novel in vitro 3D model to study hepatocyte biology in the context of liver disease. A more comprehensive approach to investigating the intercellular mechanisms of NAFLD will include co-culture of organoids with …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Eribulin effects on epithelial mesenchymal plasticity and therapy response
Epithelial mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) is a highly regulated and powerful cellular process that is fundamental in embryonic development (1), which is hijacked by cancer cells for metastatic progression and therapy resistance in epithelial cancers (2). Eribulin is a microtubule-inhibiting cancer drug discovered in sea sponges and approved for 3rd line therapy in metastatic breast cancer, which was shown to block EMP (3).We hypothesise that eribulin’s reversal of EMT will sensitise breast cancer cells to other therapies and ultimately improve patient …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Reversing Epithelial Mesenchymal Plasticity with Eribulin to Enhance Therapy Response
Epithelial mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) is a highly regulated and powerful cellular process that is fundamental in embryonic development (1), which is hijacked by cancer cells for metastatic progression and therapy resistance in epithelial cancers (2). Eribulin is a microtubule-inhibiting cancer drug discovered in sea sponges and approved for 3rd line therapy in metastatic breast cancer, which was shown to reverse epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) (3).We hypothesise that eribulin’s reversal of EMT will sensitise breast cancer cells to other therapies and …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Determining the response to PARP inhibitor treatment of ovarian cancer in mouse xenograft model
Our cellular DNA is constantly under threat from both exogenous and endogenous factors. DNA repair pathways function to maintain genomic stability, preventing deleterious mutations that may ultimately lead to cancer initiation. When a tumour forms, it becomes genetically unstable, allowing environmental adaptation. This genetic instability can also result in gene mutations and protein expression alterations that can be targeted to induce cancer-specific cell death (phenomenon also known as synthetic lethality). For example, it has been shown that cells deficient in …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Restoring adiponectin signalling to prevent prostate cancer progression
Advanced prostate cancer (PCa) is a leading cause of cancer-associated death in Australian men. Anti-androgens, which exploit the tumour’s reliance on androgens for its growth and spread, offer temporary remission in advanced PCa patients, but due to treatment resistance, fail to be curative. A further complication of anti-androgens is that they trigger a deleterious suite of metabolic side-effects resembling obesity/Metabolic syndrome. These symptoms not only impact patient health but promote the tumour to be more aggressive and resist treatment. Vital …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Targeting leptin's signalling axis to prevent treatment resistance in prostate cancer
Advanced prostate cancer (PCa) is a leading cause of cancer-associated death in Australian men. Anti-androgens, which exploit the tumour’s reliance on androgens for its growth & spread, offer temporary remission in advanced PCa patients, but due to treatment resistance, fail to be curative. A further complication of anti-androgens is that they trigger a deleterious suite of metabolic side-effects resembling obesity/Metabolic syndrome. These symptoms not only impact patient health but promote tumours to be more aggressive & resist treatment. Vital new …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Unravelling the function of PSA variants in prostate cancer
OverviewProstate cancer (PCa) is the second-most common cancer in men. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) encoded by the KLK3 gene is the only FDA-approved PCa biomarker for PCa. As a serine protease, PSA can also regulate multiple functions involved in PCa progression and metastasis and is summarised in our recent publications. Immunotherapies, including PSA-targeting therapies, have shown modest improvement in survival, for only a subset of metastatic PCa patients. Not much is known on the immunoregulatory role of PSA or its variants, …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health
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