Study level

  • Honours

Faculty/School

Faculty of Engineering

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Centre for Biomedical Technologies

Supervisors

Associate Professor Laura Bray
Position
Principal Research Fellow
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Engineering
Dr Akhilandeshwari Ravichandran
Position
Lecturer
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Engineering

Overview

Radiation therapy (RT) is one of the most commonly used modalities in cancer treatment, usually delivered in combination with surgical intervention, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy.

However, clinical outcomes show that almost 20% of patients fail to achieve targeted outcomes because of inherent resistance to radiation. This necessitates in-depth understanding of radiation resistance mechanisms using relevant preclinical models of RT. Previous in vitro studies have predominantly used two-dimensional (2D) cell culture models that do not recapitulate the three-dimensional (3D) complexity of native tissues.

Research activities

In this project, you will use semi-synthetic hydrogels of Gelatin Methacryloyl (GelMA) to generate bioengineered cancer tissues for exploring radiobiological mechanisms. You will have the opportunity to work with the following techniques:

  • preparing hydrogels with varying mechanical stiffnesses
  • mechanical characterization of hydrogels
  • 3D tissue culture of cancer cells with hydrogels
  • live/dead staining and confocal imaging
  • metabolic activity assay
  • image-based quantification of DNA damage.

Outcomes

  • mechanical characterization of hydrogels post radiation therapy
  • short-term and long-term effects of radiation on 3D cancer models.

Skills and experience

  • passionate about biomedical and specficially cancer research
  • interested in acquiring cell and tissue culture skills
  • good  written and oral communication skills.

Keywords

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information.