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 13–23 of 23 results
Characterising drivers of melanoma cell heterogeneity
Tumour cell heterogeneity is linked to tumour progression through the generation of divergent cellular behaviours such as proliferation, survival, invasion and therapy resistance. Crucially, conventional and targeted therapies generally only target highly proliferative cells in tumours leading to initial tumour regression, however alternative sub-populations underpin the return of treatment refractory disease and facilitate metastatic spread. Our laboratory is focused on understanding the regulatory drivers of cellular plasticity in melanoma to better understand progression and metastatic spread of this disease and …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Low-cost portable Magnetic Resonance Imaging for clinical applications
The aim of this project is to develop accurate low-cost medical imaging methodology for pseudo-3D mapping of Mammographic Density (MD) within the breast. MD is the degree of radio-opacity (“whiteness”) in an X-ray mammogram. It has implications for breast cancer risk, ease of detection of breast cancer, and monitoring of the efficacy of hormonal breast cancer prevention or anti-cancer treatments.Healthcare ChallengeThere is a growing need for affordable and accurate quantitative assessment of MD without ionising radiation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
Board interlocks and firm decisions
Board interlocks research is one of the most vibrant areas in corporate governance research. A board interlock is a tie created by two firms sharing a common director. In other words, a director can hold multiple directorships in more than one firm. Board interlocks reflect complex inter-organisational relationships which play an important role in determining a firm’s strategies and structures.Prior research finds that board interlocks have an impact on reducing environmental uncertainty, gaining access to diverse and unique information, diffusing …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Accountancy
Resolving uncertainty in decisions to improve agri-food system outcomes for people and nature
Despite efforts to monitor and manage declining species and ecosystems around the world, biodiversity is still not routinely included in mainstream decision-making and continues to decline at the highest rate in human history. Added to this is the problem that both natural and agri-food systems are complex networks that are continually changing due to human and natural disturbances, with climate change likely to increase the impacts of extreme events like drought, fire and economic shocks on these networks.Because of large …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Biology and Environmental Science
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Centre for the Environment
Emergence of curvature-dependent growth in mathematical models of tissue invasion
The growth of biological tissues in 3D-printed scaffold pores occurs under strong geometric controls depending on the shape and size of the pores. How this control emerges from the interaction between spatial constraints and biological processes such as cell migration and cell proliferation remains largely unknown. Existing phenomenological models of tissue growth hypothesise growth laws which directly involve curvature without considering cellular mechanisms.Recently, a reaction–diffusion mathematical model of tissue growth in porous scaffolds was proposed to investigate cell-level behaviour using …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
How should the law distinguish between people who can make legally effective decisions and those who cannot?
Dr Sam Boyle is looking for candidates wanting to explore the ethical and legal issues that the issue of capacity gives rise to. In particular, candidates may want to consider how the law can validly incorporate medical understanding of mental functioning into the legal sphere.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
- Research centre(s)
-
Australian Centre for Health Law Research
Supported and Substitute Decision-making
Associate Professor Shih-Ning Then is looking for PhD/MPhil candidates wishing to explore legal and policy responses to decision-making by, and on behalf of, adults with a decision-making impairment. Candidates with an interest in the human rights concept of supported decision-making and legal responses to this are encouraged to contact the supervisor. Doctrinal, comparative or empirical approaches to investigating these issues are possible.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
- Research centre(s)
-
Australian Centre for Health Law Research
Capacity, decision making and ageing
Dr Kelly Purser is interested in supervising students who wish to undertake research about capacity, substitute decision making and ageing, including how and when capacity is determined, and by whom. As people age they may not retain the capacity to be able to make legally recognised decisions giving rise to questions around who can determine what happens when someone can no longer make their own decisions, how and when this should be determined as well as what is the outcome …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
- Research centre(s)
-
Australian Centre for Health Law Research
Perception-to-action for collision avoidance using robotic boats
Much like driving cars on our roads, there are rules around driving maritime systems (boats) on waterways regarding where you can drive and how to avoid and behave in potential collision situations.In this project, you'll explore and develop state-of-the-art perception and decision support solutions to allow robotic surface vessels (robot boats) to safely travel complex waterways in and around other human-driven vessels. This will involve diving deep into vision and laser-based sensor processing and fusion algorithms, as well as robust …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
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
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
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