Summer Research Scholarships 2009/2010 - Projects arranged by subject
Projects are listed under the following subject headings:
All linked files below are PDF.
Alternatively, go to the list of available projects arranged by School or Institute.
Bones
- Are Lamins the link between aging and senile osteoporosis
Supervisor: Associate Professor Gustavo Duque - Direct role of estrogen receptor (ER)α and ERβ activation for bone mass and architecture
Supervisors: Dr Ulla Simanainen and Dr Hong Zhou - Fat and Bone: an odd couple
Supervisor: Associate Professor Gustavo Duque - Novel signalling pathway(s) for the LRP5/6 antagonist sclerostin (SOST), mediate cartilage catabolic gene expression
Supervisors: Dr Benjamin Chan and Associate Professor Chris Little
Cancer
- Construction of Tissue Microarrays for Cancer Research
Supervisors: Dr Viive Howell, Dr Anthony Gill and Associate Professor Deborah Marsh - Development of Novel Anti-Tumour Agents for the Treatment of Prostate Cancer
Supervisor: Professor Des R. Richardson - Identifying mediators of the invasive phenotype that follows Tumour protein D52 overexpression in mouse 3T3 fibroblast cells
Supervisors: Austin Della-Franca and Associate Professor Jennifer Byrne - Interleukin 6 and Prostate Cancer Cell growth
Supervisors: Dr Hong Zhou and Dr Yu Zheng - Managing distress in paediatric oncology: A critical review of the relevance of family relationships
Supervisor: Dr Paul Cheung - Mutational screening for tumor protein D52 (TPD52) in breast cancer cell lines
Supervisors: Dr Yuyan Chen and Associate Professor Jennifer Byrne - New mechanisms whereby IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-5 influence tumour progression: Modification of the Unfolded Protein Response
Supervisor: Dr Steve Grkovic - On the receiving end: patient perceptions of the side-effects from chemotherapy in the 21st century
Supervisors: Dr Janette Vardy and Ms Haryana Dhillon - The role of insulin-like growth factor-II receptor in cancer
Supervisors: Dr Karin Lyon, Dr Carolyn Scott and Dr Sue Firth - Thoracic Immobilisation for radiation treatment of cancer patients
Supervisors: Dr Verity Ahern, Mrs Rachael Beldham-Collins and Professor Val Gebski
Cardiovascular
- CD147 Expression in Coronary Artery Disease
Supervisors: Dr Gabrielle Pennings and Professor Len Kritharides - Cell to cell communication in vascular and cancer cells
Supervisors: Dr Sabine Wimmer-Kleikamp and Professor Roland Stocker - Determining the gene response to hypoxia in cardiovascular system
Supervisor: Dr Bing Yu - Development of novel methods to characterize and quantify oxidative stress in cells
Supervisors: Dr Ghassan Maghzal and Professor Roland Stocker - Dietary Phospholipids and Cardiovascular Disease
Supervisor: Associate Professor Jeffrey Cohn - Enzyme activity, smoking and heart disease
Supervisors: Ojia Skaff, Dr David I. Pattison and Professor Michael J. Davies - Exercise for people recently discharged from hospital
Supervisor: Dr Cathie Sherrington - Gender and myocardial protection
Supervisor: Dr Anastasia Susie Mihailidou - Kynurenine is a novel vascular relaxation factor
Supervisors: Dr Yutang Wang and Professor Roland Stocker - Putting the Brakes on Ageing
Supervisor: Dr Ken Rodgers - Serum Amyloid A in Cardiovascular Disease
Supervisors: Dr Susan Hua and Dr Paul Witting - The cellular response to altered levels of heme oxygenase
Supervisors: Dr Maria Lönn and Professor Roland Stocker - The relationship between macrophage subsets and subsequent scarring following paediatric burn injury
Supervisors: Dr Heather Medbury, Dr Sarah Tarran and Professor Andrew Holland - When Lipoproteins Turn Bad
Supervisor: Dr Clare Hawkins
Endocrinology & Metabolism
- Genotype and phenotype analysis in diabetes complications
Supervisors: Associate Professor Bruce Bennetts, Dr Jim Minchenko and Associate Professor Kim Donaghue - Leukocyte Activation: - Its Role in Diabetic Complications
Supervisors: Dr Danqing Min and Dr Susan McLennan - Role of incretins in preventing diabetes related heart disease
Supervisor: Associate Professor Stephen Twigg - Role of the MMP/TIMP system in development of liver fibrosis
Supervisors: Dr Susan McLennan and Dr Nicholas Shackel - Role of TIMP-1 in regulation of fat cell differentiation
Supervisors: Dr Susan McLennan and Associate Professor Stephen Twigg - Selenium supplementation protects renal tissues from acute renal failure
Supervisors: Dr Paul Witting and Ms Anu Shanu - The role of miRNAs in preventing the development of diabetic kidney diseases
Supervisors: Professor Carol Pollock and Dr Xin-Ming Chen - The thioredoxin system and vascular dysfunction in diabetes mellitus
Supervisors: Professor Carol Pollock and Dr Xin-Ming Chen
Ethics
- Modelling choice in bone marrow donation: Evaluating and developing research methods
Supervisor: Dr Paul Cheung
Genetics, Development & Disease
- Bioinformatics of non-coding RNA – project withdrawn
Supervisor: Clinical Professor Leslie Burnett - Could MG53 be a novel cause of human muscular dystrophy?
Supervisors: Dr Sandra Cooper and Professor Kathryn North - Defective membrane resealing in muscular dystrophy: defining the molecular interaction between dysferlin and MG53
Supervisors: Dr Sandra Cooper and Professor Kathryn North - Dysferlin muscular dystrophy: How does dysferlin mediate calcium-activated membrane resealing?
Supervisors: Dr Sandra Cooper and Professor Kathryn North - Genes that affect athletic performance: study of the influence of ACTN3 genotype in a knockout mouse model
Supervisors: Dr Nan Yang and Professor Kathryn North - Identification and Characterisation of a Mitochondrial Respiratory Chain Disorder
Supervisors: Professor John Christodoulou and Dr Lisa Riley - Investigating CDKL5 sub-cellular localisation during the cell cycle
Supervisors: Professor John Christodoulou and Dr Sarah Williamson - Investigating the role of BMP receptors in muscle stem cell transdifferentiation
Supervisors: Dr Aaron Schindeler, Renjing Liu and Associate Professor David Little - Mechanisms Mediating the Mobillisation of Haematopoietic Stem Cells from the Bone Marrow into the Blood
Supervisors: Dr Linda Bendall and Dr Nadia Harun - Molecular Basis of Human Disease
Supervisor: Professor Juergen Reichardt
Geriatrics
- An investigation of aetiological factors relevant to haording
Supervisor: Clinical Professor John Snowdon - Beyond Ageing Project
Supervisors: Dr Sharon Naismith and Dr Keri Diamond - Evaluation of the level of pain and disability due to hip/knee osteoarthritis
Supervisors: Dr Lidia Sanchez Riera, Associate Professor Lyn March and Dr Emma Smith
Immunology, Infection & Allergy
- Adverse effects after botulinum toxin injection for the management of spasticity
Supervisors: Dr Stephen O’Flaherty and Dr Angie Morrow - Aren't they both H1N1? Designing a brochure on the prevention of seasonal influenza vaccination among healthcare workers
Supervisor: Dr Paul Cheung - Computational knowledge discovery in infectious diseases
Supervisor: Dr Vitali Sintchenko - Does breastfeeding alone protect infants against vaccine preventable diseases? A literature review
Supervisors: Dr Jane Jelfs and Dr Nick Woods - Hepatitis C virus: mechanisms in liver disease
Supervisor: Dr Mark Douglas - Impacts of Influenza A (H1N1 09 swine) in children < 15 years
Supervisors: Dr Yvonne Zurynski and Professor Elizabeth Elliott - Liver Cancer and Fatty Liver Disease
Supervisor: Dr Lionel Hebbard - Molecular and cellular abnormalities in asthma
Supervisors: Professor Judith L Black and Dr Thomas Trian - Microbial forensics: Tracking pathogens for public health
Supervisor: Dr Vitali Sintchenko - Notch signalling and NASH
Supervisor: Dr Liang Qiao - Otitis media terminology across studies: are we comparing apples with oranges?
Supervisor: Dr Hasantha Gunasekera - Preadmission screening of surgical patients for carriage of MRSA
Supervisors: Professor Lyn Gilbert, Dr Brian O’Toole and Dr Matthew O’Sullivan - Role of CD147 in development of liver fibrosis
Supervisors: Dr Nicholas Shackel, Dr Fiona Warner and Dr Sue McLennan - Role of the Hedgehog system in development of liver fibrosis
Supervisors: Dr Fiona Warner and Dr Nicholas Shackel - Streptococcus gordonii Hsa/Gspb gene-induced tight junction changes in oral epithelial cells
Supervisors: Dr Ping Ye and Professor Neil Hunter - The role of APC in RA synoviocytes proliferation in vitro using RA synovium
Supervisors: Dr Sohel Julovi, Dr Meilang Xue and Associate Professor Chris Jackson
Medical Education
- Medical students’ learning of patient-centred medicine within clinical settings
Supervisor: Associate Professor Charlotte Rees - Patient-student-tutor interaction during medical bedside learning encounters
Supervisors: Dr Rola Ajjawi and Associate Professor Charlotte Rees
Neurosciences
- Detection and effects of NMDA-receptor antibody in paediatric encephalitis
Supervisors: Dr Fabienne Brilot-Turville and Dr Russell Dale - Identifying a Neuron-Glial Link with a View to Unravelling the Development of Neuropathic Pain: a process of differentiation and elimination
Supervisor: Dr Michelle B. Gerke - Molecular genetic studies of motor neuron disease (MND)
Supervisor: Dr Ian Blair - Normative data by age for thermal quantitative sensory testing
Supervisors: Dr Karl Ng and Dr Paul Wrigley - Normative data for experimental ischaemic nerve excitability
Supervisor: Dr Karl Ng - Skin Biopsy as a Diagnostic Tool in Peripheral Neuropathy
Supervisors: Dr Min-Xia Wang and Dr Judy Spies - Spinal 3D Motion Tracking
Supervisor: Dr Richard Appleyard - Testing Human Balance Pathways to the Lower Limbs
Supervisor: Dr Miriam Welgampola - The development of binocular vision
Supervisor: Dr Alan Freeman - The effect of gravity on the human vestibulo-ocular reflex
Supervisor: Dr Miriam Welgampola
Pediatrics
- Alcohol-related birth defects
Supervisors: Dr Elizabeth Peadon and Professor Elizabeth Elliott - Detection of Early Executive Dysfunction in Preschool Aged Children after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pilot Study
Supervisor: Dr Suzanne Benson - Evaluation of the King’s Outcome Scale for Childhood Head Injury (KOSCHI) in measuring long-term outcome in children with traumatic brain injury
Supervisors: Dr Simon Paget, Dr Mary-Clare Waugh and Dr Angie Morrow - Non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis in children aged < 15 years
Supervisors: Dr Monica Lahra and Professor Elizabeth Elliott - Systematic review of quality of life instruments in children with cerebral palsy
Supervisors: Dr Angie Morrow and Lynn McCartney - Why do Australian families look to the United Kingdom for support and information about childhood rare diseases?
Supervisors: Dr Yvonne Zurynski and Professor Elizabeth Elliott
Public Health
- An analysis of Australian public media (newspapers and television news stories) on HPV vaccination
Supervisors: Dr Spring Cooper and Dr Julie Leask - Bodily awareness in knee osteoarthritis
Supervisor: Dr Christine Lin - Clinical trial registration in contemporary trials of kidney disease – is it working?
Supervisor: Dr Angela C Webster - Communicating health information to patients: what are the best methods?
Supervisor: Dr Kirsten McCaffery - Current use of Front-of-Pack nutrition information in Australian supermarkets
Supervisors: Ms Jacqui Webster and Dr Elizabeth Dunford - How do rare childhood diseases impact on our hospitals?
Supervisors: Dr Yvonne Zurynski and Professor Elizabeth Elliott - Keeping up with the evidence: updating systematic reviews in kidney disease
Supervisor: Dr Angela C Webster - Monitoring salt reduction in Australian processed foods
Supervisors: Ms Jacqui Webster and Dr Elizabeth Dunford - Searching for diagnostic evidence – what is done and how well is it described?
Supervisor: Dr Angela C Webster - Systematic Review of Burden of Musculoskeletal Diseases
Supervisors: Dr Lidia Sanchez Riera, Associate Professor Lyn March and Dr Emma Smith - The global burden of otitis media: a systematic review of incidence studies
Supervisors: Dr Hasantha Gunasekera and Professor Jonathan Craig - Why Do Supermarket Shoppers in Low SES Area Buy More Non-Core Foods?
Supervisors: Associate Professor Ruth Colagiuri and Dr Seham Girgis
Reproductive Biology
- Androgen regulation of structure and cellular differentiation of vas deferens
Supervisor: Dr Ulla Simanainen - Directing the differentiation of embryonic stem cells
Supervisor: Dr Michael Morris - Granulosa cell specific role of Androgens in Female Fertility
Supervisor: Dr Kirsty Walters - Investigation of protein knockdown in the rat uterus during pregnancy
Supervisors: Professor Chris Murphy and Dr Laura Lindsay - Location of the Estrogen receptor and its signaling pathways in the mouse prostate
Supervisors: Dr Ulla Simanainen and Keely McNamara
Reproductive Medicine
- Detection of malnutrition in fetuses
Supervisor: Professor Heather Jeffery - Placenta Previa, the RPA Hospital experience
Supervisors: Dr Selvan Pather and Professor Jonathan Carter - Systematic review of first trimester biomarkers as predictors of preeclampsia
Supervisors: Dr Natasha Nassar and Associate Professor Christine Roberts - Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy at the Sydney Cancer Centre
Supervisors: Dr Selvan Pather and Professor Jonathan Carter
Sleep & Breathing
- Can relaxed breathing patterns give reliable results for lung function testing in patients with respiratory disease?
Supervisors: Dr Sue Downie and Dr Cheryl Salome - Correlation between serotonin receptor and apoptosis in the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) brainstem
Supervisors: Dr Rita Machaalani & Associate Professor Karen Waters - Effects of OSA on ventilatory responses of infants
Supervisors: Associate Professor Karen Waters and Dr Joanna MacLean - Quantifying Pharyngeal Wall Folding
Supervisors: Dr Kristina Kairaitis and Associate Professor Terence C Amis - Sleep and low back pain
Supervisor: Dr James McAuley - Sleep-wake patterns in bipolar disorder
Supervisors: Associate Professor Naomi Rogers and Mr Bradley Whitwell - The validation of a web-based neurocognitive and questionnaire testing battery for sleep research
Supervisor: Professor Ronald R Grunstein
Surgery
- Assessment of autonomic function in critically ill patients
Supervisors: Dr James Padley and Dr Richard Piper - Simulation and Surgical Performance
Supervisor: Associate Professor Peter Cosman