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 36 matching student topics
Displaying 13–24 of 36 results
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
Life cycle assessments in the hospital space for waste reduction
Recovering, recycling, reuse and reducing waste in the health sector becomes more and more important as it will help hospitals to become more sustainable and to reduce their impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Life cycle assessments of materials, for examples plastic packaging, is an important tool to establish the best practice for recovery and recycling of these materials.
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
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Centre for a Waste-Free World
Mathematical modelling of spatial plant patterns in a sub-Antarctic island
Various spatial patterns naturally emerge in ecology. These include stripes, spots, hexagons, and donuts, to name just a few. However, it can be puzzling to figure out how these patterns form.Systems of partial differential equation models can be used to simulate these patterns, and thereby provide ecologists with testable hypotheses for how these patterns formed.
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Centre for the Environment
Control of concentrating solar thermal power plants
Concentrating solar power (CSP) is a technology that utilises mirrors (heliostats) to focus the sun’s rays on a solar receiver. This provides heat for a power generation cycle, creating thermal energy.Control of the heat transfer fluid temperature in the solar receiver is crucial for the efficient use/storage of thermal energy and to minimise the degradation of the receiver. The aim of this project is to design controllers for the heat transfer fluid pumps and the heliostats using a previously developed model of the receiver's thermodynamics.
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Unleashing the full potential of terminators for the regulation of gene expression in plants
Ultimately, the proper development of a plant and its ability to adapt to its environment is the result of how plants’ genes are expressed and interact with each other. Hence, it is of extreme importance to understand the mechanisms used by plants to regulate gene expression.Modification of the expression pattern of a gene is particularly important in modern biology. By changing the expression levels of a gene, it is possible to learn about its function, increase the production of a …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Biology and Environmental Science
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy
Sentience and the law (plants and animals)
For centuries the law has operated under the assumption that plants and animals are inert and material objects without the ability to meaningfully determine their future or engage with other living or material things. Plants constantly communicate with each other through fungal (mycorrhizal) networks in the soil and have up to 20 senses as opposed to the five that human beings have. New ways of thinking about plants and animals raise important and deep possibilities for law reform. The supervisors …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
Bacteria - mammalian cell interactions in implant-associated infections
The recent COVID-19 pandemic reminds us of how difficult it is to control infectious diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms are known to be extremely 'smart' and are able to quickly develop mechanisms against most of our strategies aimed at eradicating them. Our group is focused on bacterial infections to implants and medical devices. We are in the pursuit to outsmart the bacteria to develop the next generation medical device and implant materials.Anthony Gristina conceptualized in 1987 that bacteria compete with tissue cells …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Race for the surface: helping implants to win the race
The recent COVID-19 pandemic reminds us of how difficult it is to control infectious diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms are known to be extremely 'smart' and are able to quickly develop mechanisms against most of our strategies aimed at eradicating them.Our group is focused on bacterial infections to implants and medical devices. We are in the pursuit to outsmart the bacteria to develop the next generation medical device and implant materials.When a biomaterial is implanted into the body and bacteria get into …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
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
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
Empowering communities with DataCare: ethical data practices for smart cities
Smart cities hold immense potential for progress, but their success hinges on citizen empowerment and ethical data practices. Our research initiative, DataCare, aims at reshaping the landscape of smart cities by prioritising citizens, communities, and small businesses. This project, developed in collaboration with Brisbane Residents United (BRU), focuses on transforming smart cities from profit-driven entities to community-led developments.BRU is a community association serving as a vital grassroots advocacy and peer support network for suburban and local resident groups across Greater …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
- School
- School of Design
- Research centre(s)
- Digital Media Research Centre
Design Lab
2032 Brisbane Olympic Games: how can we achieve climate-positive urban objectives?
Brisbane is the first host city to be contractually bound to deliver a climate-positive Olympic Games in 2032 (Queensland Government, 2023). Most of the 8,000-megawatt coal plants are expected to close by 2032, which requires a viable and sustainable transition to renewable energies (Simshauser, 2024).In this project, we investigate how digital energy services and analytics (DESA) can help a sustainable energy transition for a climate-positive 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.ReferencesQueensland Government. (2023). All Queensland. All in. 2032 procurement strategy. https://www.forgov.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/404030/Q2032-procurement-strategy.pdfSimshauser, P. …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Information Systems
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
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