APCRC - Q Seminar Series

Professor Judith Clements

"New insights into the roles of the PSA-related kallikrein gene family in prostate cancer"

• NHMRC Principal Research Fellow
• Program Leader, Cancer Program, IHBI, QUT
• Scientific Director, APCRC - Q

Since 1997 Professor Clements has led the Cancer Research Program at the Queensland University of Technology, which aims to more clearly understand the molecular and cellular basis for the development and progression of primarily hormone dependent cancers such as prostate, breast, ovary, endometrial, and also lung.

Her personal research focuses on mechanistic and translational studies of the role of the PSE-related kallikrein-related serine peptidases in hormone dependent cancers, particularly prostate and ovarian cancers.  She has been internationally recognized for her pioneering research into the molecular and cell biology of the kallikrein-related serine peptidases by the awarding of the Silver (2000) and Gold (2007) international EK Frey-Werle Medals and was recently awarded the Queensland Women in Technology Biotech Outstanding Achievement Award for 2012.

Dr Jyotsna Batra

"Follow-up on GWAS – discovery to function"

• NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellow, IHBI, Faculty of Health, QUT
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, APCRC-Q

Dr Batra has been continuously involved in scientific research since 2002. The focus of her PhD thesis was on asthma, which is a widespread respiratory tract ailment that affects nearly 20% of the world’s population. Her focus on large-scale population and family based studies, led to the identification of some novel features in various key genes (viz. UGRP1, NAT2, NOS2A, CCR3, CCR5, Eotaxin, MCP3, MCP1, LELP1, IL-10, IL-21, CHIA) associated with asthma. She identified individuals homozygous for CCR5∆32 deletion — the first report from the Indian subcontinent.

Most importantly, Dr Batra and her research group identified a novel asthma associated genetic signature — a loss of function polymorphism in the Inositol polyphosphate 4 phosphatase (INPP4A) gene. This was accomplished through a project to utilise microarray data from a mouse model of asthma to identify genetic factors responsible for causing asthma in the Indian population. Her group is the first in the world to show a link between the Inositol signalling pathway and genetic susceptibility to asthma.

Over the past three years, Dr Batra has applied her knowledge on asthma genetics to various hormone dependent cancers. Studying the genetic variation in Kallikrein genes has been a major focus for her current postdoctoral fellowship, which is now being expanded to genome-wide association studies and pathway analysis. In addition to researching the relevant literature and experimental design, she is responsible for in-house DNA quality control, selection, and prioritization of genetic variants, establishment of a genetic database, and optimisation of Massarray sequenom and other polymorphism detection systems and setting up and maintaining the national and international collaborations.

Dr Batra is the Co-PI on a collaborative project with the UK group to replicate the hits identified from the Genome Wide Association Studies. Her recent collaborative research has lead to two publications in Nature Genetics.

Russell Strong Auditorium
Basement Level Main Building
Princess Alexandra Hospital
Brisbane

Refreshments: from 4.30pm
Presentations: 5.00pm-6.00pm
Networking: 6.00pm-6:30pm

RSVP for catering purposes: prostatecentre@qut.edu.au