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 23 matching student topics
Displaying 1–12 of 23 results
Optimising delivery of a novel nose-to-brain treatment for brain cancer
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive brain cancer with no curative treatment and poor prognosis. One of the biggest challenges with treating GBM is the inability of treatment to cross the blood-brain barrier resulting in poor drug distribution in the brain. Fortunately, scientists have recently developed a novel nose-to-brain delivery system that uses nanoparticles loaded with a chemotherapy drug called paclitaxel. Initial treatment investigations in vivo are showing significant promise in reducing and controlling the tumour burden. While exciting, before …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
Development of a Microfluidic Gut-Brain Axis Chip
The gut microbiome refers to the collection of micro-organisms that are living symbiotically in the human or animal gastrointestinal tract (defined as the “microbiota”), their genetic material as well as the surrounding environmental habitat. It is now appreciated that the microbiome plays an important role in human health and diseases. Many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's Disease have been linked to dysregulation of the gut microbiota. However, it is difficult to study gut-brain axis using animal models due to inter-species …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Centre for Microbiome Research
Traces of zinc and ciprofloxacin loaded polymer nanoparticulate inhaled formulations against lung infections associated with COPD and CF (CLIN08)
Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are one of the fatal diseases of the lungs that have severe impacts on public health, especially for Indigenous people. The currently available antibiotics administered orally for the treatment of LRTIs need high doses with frequent administration and cause dose-related adverse effects. To overcome this problem, we will investigate the development of ciprofloxacin (CIP) loaded poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEtOx) nanoparticles (NPs) with traces of zinc for potential pulmonary delivery from dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations. As zinc …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Clinical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Immunology and Infection Control
Developing a precision oncology workflow for Osteosarcoma treatment
Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common malignant bone tumour that primarily affects children and adolescents. With approximately 400 diagnosed cases/year in Australia, OS has the lowest survival rate of all solid cancers and is the leading cause of cancer-related death in Queensland adolescents. Unfortunately, 3 in 4 patients will not survive longer than five years following diagnosis with metastatic OS. Clinical “one size fits all” treatment strategies results in highly variable and unacceptably poor patient responses. Shockingly, both the OS …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Engineering bioartificial extracellular tumour microenvironments for Osteosarcoma personalised precision oncology
Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common malignant bone tumour affecting children and adolescents. Importantly, clinical outcomes have not improved for decades, and bone tumours remain to be a leading cause of cancer-related death in adolescents.By identifying ideal treatment approaches for each individual patient, precision oncology has the potential to significantly improve these outcomes. Yet, its widespread application is hindered by a lack of biomaterials that support the reproducible and robust generation of patient-derived osteosarcoma organoids in vitro.Therefore, this project will …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Novel therapeutic strategies to treat advanced colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer is a very common disease, with over 15,000 new cases diagnosed in Australia annually. Metastatic colorectal cancer describes advanced disease that has spread beyond the primary site. This is very aggressive and incurable in the vast majority of these patients. To improve outcomes for colorectal cancer, we are using cutting edge genomic and cell biology techniques to understand disease heterogeneity and optimise drug response. We are developing novel therapeutic interventions based on unique molecular signatures and are testing …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Computational drug repurposing for neuropsychiatric disease
While hundreds of robust genetic associations have been found for neuropsychiatric disease (such as schizophrenia, major depression, and anxiety) understanding the exact molecular mechanisms leading to disease onset and progression remains challenging. Inherited (i.e. genetic) risk factors for many neuropsychiatric diseases converge on genes that are co-ordinately expressed (co-expressed) in a disease-relevant tissue (e.g. brain). The study of how genetic risk factors affect co-expressed genes (i.e. gene co-expression analysis) has the potential to uncover new biological processes underlying disease onset. …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Development of bioengineered 3D tumour models for preclinical breast cancer research
3D organoid model technologies have led to the development of innovative tools for precision medicine in cancer treatment. Yet, the lack of resemblance to native tumours, and the limited ability to test drugs in a high-throughput mode, has limited translation to practice.This project will progress organoid models by using advanced tissue engineering technologies and high-throughput 3D bioprinting to recreate 'mini-tumours-in-a-dish' from a patient’s own tumour cells, and study the effects of various components of the tumour microenvironment on drug response.In …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Characterisation of melanoma cell membranes to identify novel drug targets
Cell membrane structure and function are altered during tumour development, but to date comprehensive studies on the characterisation of cell membranes of a given cancer are scarce, or are only focused on a particular property (e.g. overall charge, global lipid composition, or specific lipid). In preliminary work we compared the lipidome (i.e. the lipid profile) of a panel of cells, and found the lipid composition of model melanoma cells to be distinct from that of other cancerous and non-cancerous cells. …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Using a natural β-carboline dimer compound to target metabolic vulnerabilities linked to glycolysis in prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is an androgen dependent cancer and treatments are aimed at preventing activation of the androgen receptor. Part of the development of resistance to therapies involves prostate cancers reprogramming their metabolism to overcome metabolic stress induced by these therapies and support growth and survival. This reprogramming involves increases in the rate of glycolysis and intermediate pathways branching from glycolysis. Previously in our laboratory, the natural compound, beta-carboline dimer, BD, was identified to have potent effects on cell viability, cell …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
QIMR02 - Targeting breast cancer and metastasis by oligonucleotide therapeutics with lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery system
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. The major cause of cancer-related mortality (~90%) is due to metastasis. Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women. Of the 10,000 Australians that live with metastatic breast cancer only 32% are alive after 5-years (relative survival-rate).While current cancer treatments mostly focus on targeting the primary tumours, the treatment or prevention of metastasis continues to have limited success. We have shown genetic inhibition of Cep55 reduces cancer progression …
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Using mathematics to understand multiple sclerosis: what causes the immune system to attack the brain?
Every day, we use our bodies to move, think, talk and eat, but for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) these tasks can be virtually impossible. MS is a chronic disease which develops because the immune system has started to attack the nerve cells in the brain. This causes the degradation of parts of the brain and irreversible impairment in physical and mental activity. Unfortunately, this disease has no cure, and while considerable therapeutic advances against this disease have been achieved, …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
Contact us
If you have questions about the best options for you, the application process, your research topic, finding a supervisor or anything else, get in touch with us today.