Farhana Matin

Farhana Matin is a current PhD candidate in A/Prof Batra's group at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) after successful articulation from Masters in Applied Science in 2015. Her current project focuses on microRNA based biomarkers and therapy for prostate cancer. She has expertise in cell culture, nucleic acid extractions from plasma, real time PCR, miRNA functional assays, data analysis, statistical analysis, animal handling, in vivo experiments/ imaging, etc. She has participated in more than 20 scientific conferences/ competitions during her candidature and was awarded many times based on her performance. She has previously trained a BSc student on placement and worked with High school students as part of the STEM Program. She has also been an active member of the IHBI Inspires Postgraduate Student Conference organising committee and holds other professional memberships at present. Farhana completed a BSc in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Due to her excellent academic record she was selected to work as an Elective Fellow at the International Centre for Diarrheal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B).

She is part of a team working towards development of microRNA-based diagnostics and therapeutics for the accurate detection and treatment of prostate cancer (PCa). PCa is a major cause of cancer-related deaths in men worldwide and the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australian men with an estimated number of 16,665 new cases diagnosed and 3,452 deaths in 2017 according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA). There has been an ongoing issue relating to the diagnostic accuracy and harmful side effects of currently available biomarkers for e.g. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) and therapeutics for e.g. chemotherapy, radiation or hormone therapy. They anticipate that their approach to have improved accuracy and fewer side effects in comparison to the currently available cancer detection and treatment options, as they intend to harness the mechanism of fine-tuning of the genome through microRNA detection and replacement. This may potentially improve prostate cancer management and survival outcome in PCa patients.

• Matin F, Jeet V, Clements JA, Yousef GM, Batra J. MicroRNA Theranostics in Prostate Cancer Precision Medicine. Clinical Chemistry. 2016; 62(10):1318-33. doi: 10.21037/tcr.2017.01.21
• Matin F, Batra J. A MicroRNA Molecular Signature of Aggressive Prostate Cancer (Commentary). Translational Cancer Research. 2017. doi: 10.21037/tcr.2017.01.21
• Matin F, Jeet V, Moya L, Selth LA, Chambers S, Australian Prostate Cancer BioResource, Clements JA, Batra J. A Plasma Biomarker Panel of Four MicroRNAs for the Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer. Scientific Reports. 2017. (Under revision)