THE TEAM
"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much."
Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Dayna MasonPhD Student & Australian Endevour Fellow
Dayna graduated with a Bachelor in Forensic Biology and Biomedical science from the University of Technology Sydney in 2016. Dayna joined the team in 2017 and is currently working on a project which explores the association between HPV16 and the expression of non-coding RNAs, such as miRNAs, in oral cancers. Dayna enjoys a good painting and chilling out in the mountains...woohoo! Fiona DeutschPhD Student & TCRN funded scholar
Fiona graduated with a Bachelor in Forensic Science at Bond University. In May, 2017, she joined the Tran Lab as an Honorary Research Associate. Her research explores the application of saliva-based small RNA biomarkers in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. Fiona loves animals and has a pet bird and a dog called Dobby! Samantha Khoury PhD (Visiting PostDoc)
Samantha is an Australian Federation of Graduate Women Fellow who joined the group as an honors student, graduating with first class honors. Her PhD (awarded 2018) was focused on discovering novel small RNA biomarkers for the rapid and early diagnosis of head and neck cancers. Samantha's work has already identified a suite of diagnostic serum miRNAs which are currently being tested in patients with oral cancer.
Her interest for biomarker discovery saw her attend the Wellcome Trust Advanced Course: Functional Genomics and Systems Biology. She hopes to use miRNA Seq to further characterise the expression of these small RNAs in other subsets of head and neck cancers. Click here to read more about Samantha's research
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Meredith HillPhD Student & Australian RTS & TCRN Scholar
Meredith graduated with a Bachelor of Forensic Biology in Biomedical Science from the University of Technology, Sydney in 2016. During her honours year, Meredith developed an interest in the dysregulation of cellular processes which result in disease, with a particular interest in miRNA to miRNA regulation. Meredith is a huge star wars fans and is also a hot chocolate connoisseur! Capstone Students
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Tânia MarquesAn integrative approach to tissue-specific effects of microRNA regulatory networks
Supervised by Dr. Margarida Gama-Carvalho, BioISI and Dr. Nham Tran, UTS. RNA Biology and Bioinformatics - Gama Lab Biosystems & Integrative Sciences Institute Faculty of Sciences/ University of Lisboa Campo Grande-C8 1749-016 Lisboa |
Alison RicafrenteThe study of F.Hepatic miRNAs and their regulation of the mammalian immune system
Supervised by Dr. Sheila Donnelly, UTS and Dr. Nham Tran, UTS. Helminth Biology Lab School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science The University of Technology Sydney, Australia Website: https://www.uts.edu.au/staff/sheila.donnelly |
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![]() Pamela Ajuyah PhD
Pamela started her PhD in 2012 having just finished her honors at The University of Sydney. She graduated with first class honors and was awarded a Australian Postgraduate Award to pursue a PhD in miRNAs. Pamela's interest in small RNAs started in undergraduate studies when she was awarded two University of Sydney Summer scholarships (2009, 2010). This allowed her to work in research labs focusing on miRNA themes. Her project was centered on the role of two miRNAs and their co-operative regulation to a tumor suppressor gene important in head and neck cancers. In 2012, Pam was awarded a EMBL travel scholarship to attend and present her work at the 2012 PhD symposium in Heidelberg Germany. In 2013 , she was awarded the BioInfoSummer travel grant, Translational Cancer Research Network travel scholarship, UKRNA and the Lorne Genome student travel bursaries. She is also the recipient of the TCRN PhD Top-up award. Pamela was awarded her PhD in early 2017. ![]() Bella Pham - Biomedical Engineer
Bella spent a year in our lab as a Capstone Research student. Bella was engaged in building a microgravity device to study the effects of gravity on cancer cells. She us now working as a biomedical engineer. ![]() Manali Sawant - Biomedical Engineer
Manali completed her Diploma in Medical Electronics with a focus on Biomedical Engineering. Manali is interested in the hardware of medical equipment and is working on designing portable and robust PCR machines. ![]() Taylah Recchi
Taylah is a student at the University of Technology, Sydney, currently studying a Bachelors of Biomedical Engineering and Bachelors of Business Management. She is currently working on the gravitational device RPM and how zero gravity affects changes to mammalian cells ![]() Nicola Tarazi
Nick is currently studingy Bachelor of engineering (Electrical) at University of Technology. He has involved in a project for Vivid -THE LIMINAL ZONE (Lighting design and decoration) and as a hobby, Nick likes to tinker with electronic projects. He is currently working on the PCR POC device in the area or wireless communication. |
![]() Leonie Herson Masters Student
Leonie graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science in 2015; during which she completed an undergraduate project under the joint supervision of Prof. Stella Valenzuela and Dr. Bruce Cornell at Surgical Diagnostics where she learned how to develop and utilize artificial lipid bilayer membranes as well as create 3D lipid models. It was at the same time that she also commenced her studies in 2D and 3D animation, where she learned how to use professional animation software such as Maya, leading to an interest in biomedical animation. Leonie is also an experienced freelance Scientific Illustrator and has recently won an award for her work in the annual VizbiPlus Challenge competition. Leonie is a collaborative student from the Valenzuela lab from School of Life Sciences, UTS. Colin Guevarra - Biomedical Engineer
Colin spent a year in our lab as a Capstone Research project. He research project involved designing and building a miniature PCR device. ![]() Prashanti Susarla
Shanti is a final year Biomedical Engineering student, working on The Rugged PCR for use as a diagnostic tool to test for waterborne species in remote areas. Chloe Panagiotopoulos
Chloe is currently a final mechatronics engineering student and has an interest in assistive and diagnostic technologies. She is currently working on designing a qPCR machine for POC applications. |