Student topics

Every day in Australia:50,000 people are suffering with a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU)1,000 are in hospital because of a DFU12 will undergo an amputationfour people will die with a DFU.A key challenge to healing DFUs is effectively engaging people in their independent self-care away from the clinic. To date, self-care of people with DFU has been reported to be universally low. This project seeks to address the challenge of low adherence to self-care amongst patients with DFUs.The main innovation of …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Computer Science

Underwater robotic systems have been in use for several decades. In recent years, various groups have been adding manipulators and other payloads to increase their utility. However, their role has primarily been monitoring and mapping the oceans without human interaction.The next frontier is to have human divers and robotic system collaborate safely and productively in the same space to jointly complete complex tasks. This will involve the robotic system directly understanding and interacting with the diver in a non-verbal manner. …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Robotics

Exosomes are small (40-120 nm), stable, lipid bilayer nanovesicles identified in biological fluids (e.g. in Until recently, genetic selection in dairy cows has focused primarily on milk production traits, with very few countries including functional traits such as fertility in selection indices. Poor reproductive efficiency in dairy herds results in fewer calves, reduced milk production, high involuntary culling rates and increased cow maintenance costs. The need for, and utility of, markers of early onset of diseases (or vulnerability to diseases) …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Natural disturbances including severe storms and bleaching events have devastating impacts on the Great Barrier Reef's health. Unfortunately, the increasing pressures associated with climate change are causing these disturbances to occur more frequently, for a longer duration and with more intensity.It's essential to understand the recovery dynamics between major disturbances so we can manage the health of the Great Barrier Reef under increased environmental pressures. Many studies modelling reef recovery assume a specific form for the growth dynamics. However, the …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Mathematical Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Data Science

Exosomes are small (40-120 nm), stable, lipid bilayer nanovesicles identified in biological fluids (e.g. in milk, blood, urine and saliva). They contain a diverse array of signalling molecules, including mRNA, microRNA (miR), proteins, lipids and membrane receptors, and they interact with target cells via multiple pathways. The cargo of circulating exosomes can be indicative of a specific tissue’s health status, granting the capacity for use of exosomes as a tool for disease diagnosis. Moreover, they have many of the features …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Complications of pregnancy, including preterm birth represent the major causes of fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality and potentially affect childhood and adult susceptibility to both cardiac and metabolic diseases. Early detection of these disorders is, therefore, essential to improve health outcomes for mother and baby.Exosomes are small (40-120 nm), stable, lipid bilayer nanovesicles identified in biological fluids (e.g. in milk, blood, urine and saliva). They contain a diverse array of signalling molecules, including mRNA, microRNA (miR), proteins, lipids and …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Epilepsy is neurological disorder estimated to affect over 50 million people worldwide. Only 20–30% of epilepsy cases have a suspected cause. The remaining cases of epilepsies arise in the absence of obvious neurological deficits, intellectual disability, or brain injuries. Neuroinflammation has shown to be linked to neurological diseases such as epilepsy. Neuroinflammation is a normal response that helps to maintain equilibrium. When the inflammation continues for an extended period of time or is overactive it can cause cellular abnormalities seen …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Our belief in the importance of the 'first thousand days' and the critical part that nutrition plays has led my group to studies evaluating the composition and actions of milk and infant formula.Our studies of exosomes in biological fluids have led us to consider their presence and potential roles in milk and thus nutrition. To date, we have mainly determined proteomic contents (cargo) of exosomes but have been increasingly swayed by the literature suggesting important roles for microRNAs in general …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Single robotic systems can't accurately measure dynamic processes and map large areas in challenging environments. However, managing multiple robotic systems simultaneously poses many challenges around coordination and control. This is particularly true in environments where there's a lack of communication with the system. This project will explore multi-robot swarming and formation control to monitor, manage and track large-scale environmental phenomena.In this project, you will explore multi-robot swarming and coordinated formation control for dynamic process monitoring, target tracking and coordinated mapping. …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Robotics

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

Dengue is a major mosquito-borne disease affecting 390 million people annually across 100 countries. Disease results from infection with dengue viruses, which are single positive-stranded RNA viruses in the family Flaviviridae. Defective interfering particles (DIPs) are virus-like particles with greatly reduced genomes that are byproducts of RNA virus replication and replicate only in the presence of standard virus (Vignuzzi and Lopez 2019, doi: 10.1038/s41564-019-0465-y). DIPs occur naturally during Dengue infection (Li et al. 2011, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019447) and suppress DENV replication …

Study level

Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Dementia is the greatest cause of disability in Australians over the age of 65 years. In the absence of a significant medical breakthrough, more than $6.4 million Australians will be diagnosed with dementia in the next 40 years. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD), accounting for 60-80% of cases. The pathogenic process of AD begins decades prior to the clinical onset, so it is likely that treatments need to begin early in the disease process to …

Study level

Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences