Student topics

At the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre QLD, we are interested in the cellular adaptive response processes leading to therapy resistance in advanced prostate cancer.A focus area of our research is studying the transcriptome changes in prostate cancer cell lines, xenograft models and patient samples using RNA sequencing technologies.By integrating our large in-house repository of RNAseq data sets with publicly available studies, this project will further explore the cellular heterogeneity of prostate tumours and the plasticity of cancer cells in …

Study level

Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Shotgun metagenomic sequencing has become commonplace when studying microbial communities and their relationship with the health of our planet, and their direct effects on our own health. Currently, there are >180,000 shotgun metagenomes publicly available, but until recently trying to treat these data as a resource has been challenging due to its extreme size (>700 trillion base pairs).Recently we have developed a tool that can efficiently convert this base pair information into a straightforward assessment of which microorganisms are present …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

Cancer is the single biggest clinical problem facing the world and will account for half of all global deaths by 2030. Even though there have been significant advances in immunotherapy, we are still unable to cure most cancers. New therapeutic targets, individualised to patient needs, must be identified and validated in order to improve cancer outcomes.Brain cancer causes more deaths in people under the age of 40 than any other cancer and more deaths in children than any other disease. …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health

The Protein Ablation Cancer Therapeutics (PACT) laboratory are interested in understanding how post-translational modifications contribute to the tumorigenic functions of proteins in cancer cells. We hypothesise that particular post-translational modifications are required for the cancer-associated function of a protein and that prevention of these would be a useful approach to treating cancer.The aim of this project is to select a candidate protein from our database of potential targets, confirm the protein is modified, identify the key modified lysine in the …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

A growing number of countries in Europe have introduced a ‘hospitality green pass’ (EU Digital COVID Certificate) which is a paper document or app that proves the holder has been fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19. It grants consumers access to indoor restaurants, bars, cafes and other indoor venues. That is, without proof of a COVID-19 vaccination, consumers will be prohibited to enter these indoor areas.However, the introduction of green passes has also led to some backlash. For instance, some …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Every person harbours a unique collection of microorganisms - the majority of which reside in the gastrointestinal tract - that influences nearly every aspect of human health. As such, the gut microbiome is emerging as a potential tool for the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of diseases.However, microbiome studies yield vast amounts of data, and the complexity of the microbiome makes it difficult to decipher interactions between microorganisms, host cells and environmental factors.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

Developing “light controllable product selectivity switches” is of great interest in cross-coupling reactions based chemical synthesis. On an environmentally friendly plasmonic metal nano-particle surface, light irradiation can change the reactants adsorption on the surface, and thus change the relative ratio of the reactants for reaction. Different wavelengths contribute to tune this selectivity more accurately in a molecular level.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Chemistry and Physics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Materials Science

Prostate cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer (after skin cancers) in Australian males, and the second most common cause of cancer death. While the 5-year survival rate for localised disease approaches 100%, extra-prostatic invasion results in a poorer prognosis. Kallikreins are serine proteases, which are part of an enzymatic cascade pathway activated in prostate cancer (Lawrence et al 2010). The most well-known member is prostate specific antigen (PSA) or the KLK3 protein, encoded by the Kallikrein 3 (KLK3) gene, …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Regional Australia is undergoing significant structural, economic, social, and environmental change which is impacting the viability of small businesses (Regional Australia Institute, 2018). Regional small retail businesses, estimated to contribute $21.9bn to local economies (Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, 2019) are particularly susceptible to economic shocks, have lower survival rates, more volatile revenues and are generally less resilient than larger business (Barraket, Eversole, Luke & Barth, 2019).Disruptive external events such as the acceleration of e-retailing, COVID-19 travel restrictions, …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research

This project investigates how a society moves to strong sustainability and sustainable development in a more efficient and equitable way. Students can choose the scale unit of analysis, such as regions, countries, states, firms, organisation, households or even individual level. The research is very inspirational. Methodological approach to the research include theoretical and/or empirical elements.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Economics and Finance

The incidence of both dementia and chronic wounds increases with age, thus, given the ageing population, the overlap is strong.Clinicians report managing wounds in adults with dementia is a frequent and challenging problem, yet people with dementia are generally excluded from research into evidence-based wound care despite impaired cognition, high incidence of falls, immobility and incontinence, all of which are recognised risk factors for skin tears and chronic wounds.This project aims to investigate the evidence in regard to dementia and …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Nursing

There is increasing concern on the effects of global warming and how it is increasing the frequency and severity of disturbance events on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), an enduring living structure on our planet. For example, the intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones is likely to increase and this will also reduce the time available for coral reefs to recover.Moreover, there are other factors that contribute to the vulnerability of coral to mechanical breakage, such as crown of thorns …

Study level

Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences