PhD Scholarship Available in Brisbane, Queenland

Project: Identifying novel pheno-endotypes in children with chronic cough
Supervisory team:

• Prof Anne B Chang – Menzies & QUT
• Prof Stephanie Yerkovich – Menzies & QUT
• Dr Hannah O’Farrell – Menzies & QUT
• Prof Peter Morris – Menzies
• A/Prof Julie Marchant – QUT

Scholarship details
• $40,000 stipend per year for three years plus tuition fee waiver
• Scholarship administered and student enrolled through Charles Darwin University
• Student will be based in the Centre for Children’s Health Research, Brisbane
Project Outline
Chronic wet cough is among the commonest symptoms of chronic lung disease. In Australia, the most common cause of child chronic wet cough is protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB), a clinical entity we first described. It has now shown to be a precursor to bronchiectasis which causes substantial morbidity and mortality, especially from acute respiratory exacerbations.
Novel gene expression signatures are proven biomarkers for respiratory exacerbations and can provide novel molecular mechanistic insights. Biomarkers add to clinical decision-making by informing diagnosis during stable and acute phases of disease, making them useful for diagnostic and disease progression monitoring, as well as patient’s response to therapy.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are stable, measurable in bodily fluids and their ability to concentrate bioactive cargo reflective of disease state makes them attractive as biomarkers. EVs have been studied widely as non-invasive biomarkers in some diseases, however they have not been studied in paediatric lung diseases.
We are looking for an exceptional PhD student to drive a body of research to determine whether biomarker signatures using EVs can be identified and used diagnostically for diseases associated with chronic wet cough in children. The successful applicant will gain skills in gene expression (using RNA seq and Nanostring technologies), bioinformatics, a range of laboratory skills utilising human samples and EV isolation, together with clinical skills including participating in randomised clinical trials, patient recruitment and data collection.
The project will be based at the Centre for Children’s Health Research, Brisbane and the applicant will join a multi-disciplinary team undertaking several paediatric respiratory clinical trials (funded by NHMRC/MRFF). The successful applicant will be a key member of the laboratory team and will also be involved in the clinical trials.
For further information please contact [email protected]