The Alliance for Healthy Ageing (AHA) is supported by a MRFF grant and aims to prevent, delay or reverse frailty in the community. Utilizing a multidisciplinary, integrated, digitally supported, regional consortium the AHA will directly address identified community priorities. This project will build upon the established work of the research and service delivery partners in providing evidence-based, well-evaluated innovations in governance and workforce re-design for vulnerable populations in the rural and remote Western Queensland (Qld) region.

Opportunities exist for a PhD student to work alongside the CHSRI research team to evaluate the implementation of the Alliance for Healthy Ageing in Western Queensland. Supervisors will work with candidates to develop a PhD project that is in line with the candidate’s research interests and fits within scope of other activities.

The student will have the opportunity to gain skills in collecting and analysing quantitative and qualitative data, data management, costing evaluations, consumer and stakeholder engagement, and writing up findings of the project for reports and publications.

Metastasis accounts for over 90% of cancer-related deaths, with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) among the most aggressive and metastatic subtypes. Current treatments often fail to eliminate metastatic cells. This project investigates Positive Cofactor 4 (PC4)—a transcriptional regulator overexpressed in TNBC and strongly associated with poor prognosis—as a novel therapeutic target. The team has developed a PC4-targeting PROTAC (Proteolysis Targeting Chimera) designed to degrade PC4, disrupt pro-metastatic signalling (notably TGF-β/SMAD2/3), and selectively kill metastatic cancer cells. This project aims to map PC4-driven pathways, optimise the PROTAC compound, and validate its safety and efficacy in advanced models. The work has potential to yield a first-in-class drug for TNBC and other PC4-driven cancers.

Accurate DNA replication is essential for genome integrity, and disruptions in replication fork dynamics contribute to developmental disorders and cancer. This project focuses on the Rearranged L-myc Fusion (RLF) gene, a newly identified regulator of replication fork speed and chromatin architecture. RLF is a zinc-finger transcription factor involved in epigenetic regulation and replication factory organisation. Its fusion with MYCL (RLF-MYCL) in certain cancers suggests a gain-of-function mechanism that drives oncogenesis and disrupts genome stability.

We aim to unravel how RLF and RLF-MYCL fusion regulate DNA replication, cohesin positioning, and 3D genome organisation using innovative tools including DNAscent, a world-first replication mapping assay based on nanopore sequencing, and genome-wide ChIP-seq and Hi-C. This research will provide foundational insights into the role of RLF in normal and cancer cells and guide the development of targeted therapeutics.

Cancer dormancy represents a major clinical challenge, as dormant disseminated tumour cells (DTCs) can persist for years after primary treatment and later reactivate to form incurable metastases. Understanding and targeting the biological mechanisms that regulate dormancy, and its reversal is key to preventing metastatic relapse in breast and other cancers.

This project will investigate the molecular pathways that control the induction, maintenance, and escape from dormancy, using established dormancy models, 3D co-culture systems, and in vivo assays. Drawing on recent advances from our lab (https://jeccr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13046-023-02663-8)  and others, we will focus on:

• Cell-intrinsic regulators of dormancy, including cell cycle arrest, quiescence, and autophagy
• Dormancy-inducing signals from the tumour microenvironment, including TGF-β, integrin, BMP and other pathways
• Identification of key molecular switches that trigger reactivation from dormancy (various candidates have been identified)
• Functional validation of candidate genes or druggable targets that sustain latency or drive relapse

We will use advanced techniques such as time-lapse live-cell imaging, transcriptomics, functional genomics (CRISPR screens), and patient-derived organoid models to track and manipulate dormant cell behaviour in real time.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive and treatment-resistant subtype of breast cancer with limited targeted therapy options. This project explores a first-in-class CAR-T cell therapy targeting a protein overexpressed in TNBC but minimally expressed in healthy tissues. The project will involve preclinical validation of this therapy in cancer cell lines and patient-derived models, with the potential to combine CAR-T cells with immune checkpoint inhibitors to enhance efficacy. This research contributes to the development of personalised and durable immunotherapy strategies for hard-to-treat cancers.

A PhD project opportunity is available on an NHMRC Ideas grant for a student with an honours/master’s degree in immunology, molecular biology, neuroscience or a related field to join the Stem Cell Biology group at Mater Research, based at the Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, Brisbane. The successful candidate will be enrolled in a higher degree (PhD) by research at The University of Queensland and carry out a research project focused on identifying new mechanisms of neurogenic heterotopic ossification.
Neurogenic heterotopic ossifications (NHOs) are extra-skeletal bones that develop around joints after severe central nervous system injury. NHOs are incapacitating as they impair flexing of the affected joint and without intervention or surgical excision they can lead to major motor incapacitation. As the pathogenesis of NHOs is poorly understood, there are no diagnostic tools to predict NHO development in patients. To address these challenges, our NHMRC funded project will investigate mechanisms of NHO development in a pre-clinical model of NHO after spinal cord injury to discover new therapeutics and predictive biomarkers.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer and is characterized by a lack of estrogen, progesterone and human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression. TNBC is more likely to recur than the other two subtypes and one of the primary challenges to treat TNBC is its intra-tumoral heterogeneity (ITH). Recent evidences have shown that these micro-environmental differences led ITH creates hurdles for effective therapy response. In this project, we discuss the evidence of intratumoral heterogeneity and its impact on the disease progression including sensitivity to different treatment options particularly chemotherapy and immunotherapies (PD1/PDL1 based). In this project, we aim to evaluate this Intra-tumoral heterogeneity of TNBC through next-generation patient-derived 3D tumour organoid and explant models, which can effectively expedite preclinical responses towards immune-antibody-directed therapies.

Macrophages are specialised phagocytic cells that are present in all mammalian tissues, where they play critical roles in homeostasis and host defence. A PhD opportunity is available on an Australian Research Council-funded Discovery Project for a student with an honours/master’s degree in immunology, physiology, molecular biology or a related field to join the Macrophage Biology research group at Mater Research.

Males of reproductive age are unlikely to visit health practitioners for regular care until later in life. The QLD family cohort study and the Indigenous QLD Family cohort study have both collect broad health data and measures from mothers and their partners during pregnancy. Research data includes but is not limited to, chronic disease, nutritional intake, alcohol and other drugs, mental health, physical activity, sleep, asthma and allergies.

• Opportunities exist for a PhD student to work alongside this research team to understand the health of men during this time frame.
• Supervisors will work with candidates to develop a PhD project that is both in line with the candidate’s research interests and fits within scope of other activities.

This study will investigate whether sulfate therapy reduces the risk of developing adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes after preterm birth. The study, led by Associate Professor Paul Dawson, has been awarded a grant by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). The study is being undertaken following evidence that sulfate is important for brain development and that preterm infants rapidly become sulfate deficient unless their mother receives magnesium sulfate during preterm labour. Magnesium sulfate is currently administered to mothers in preterm labour at less than 30 weeks gestation and reduces the risk of cerebral palsy in the infant. However, almost half of women miss out on this neuroprotective therapy due to insufficient time to give the treatment.

To address these challenges, this NHMRC-funded project will investigate both safety and neuroprotective benefit aspects of neonatal sulphate supplementation using an established and clinically relevant preterm animal model. The study is designed specifically to support direct translation to a clinical trial of sulfate supplementation in very preterm infants.