Student projects

Student Projects

Jessica Andrews
Investigation of Lingo-1 pathways in the pathology and therapy of schizophrenia
Primary Supervisor Dr Francesca Fernandez-Enright

Bruce Ashford
Understanding the molecular and genetic mechanisms of metastasis in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
Primary Supervisor Professor Marie Ranson

Ilijana Babic
Improving schizophrenia treatment: a focus on cognition and the metabolic side-effects of medications
Primary Supervisor Dr Katrina Green

Rachelle Balez
Alterations in membranes and signalling pathways in Alzheimer's disease
Primary Supervisor Dr Lezanne Ooi

Rachael Bartlett
Exploring the roles of purinergic signalling in motor neurone disease
Primary Supervisor Associate Professor Ronald Sluyter

Monique Bax
Developing an induced pluripotent stem cell model to study protein degradation in motor neurone disease / amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Primary Supervisor Dr Lezanne Ooi

Lisa Belfiore
Development of dual-targeted drug-loaded liposomes to target heterogeneous tumour cell populations in metastatic breast cancer
Primary Supervisor Dr Kara Perrow

Christopher Bell
The mechanism of antipsychotic drug action
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang

Ronald Brown
Medicinal chemistry of neglected tropical diseases and copper catalysed aziridine ring-opening reactions
Primary Supervisor  Dr Christopher Hyland

Rebecca Brown
The role of proteostasis in motor neurone disease
Primary Supervisor Senior Professor Mark Wilson

Daniel Brungs
Development of patient-derived gastric cancer cell models for genetic, phenotypic and drug response analysis
Primary Supervisor Professor Marie Ranson

Benjamin Buckley
Dual inhibition of anticancer targets uPA and NHE1
Primary Supervisor Professor Marie Ranson 

Danielle Camer
The leptin sensitising effects of pentacyclic triterpenes in natural and esterified configurations in diet-induced obesity and potential cognitive benefits
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang 

Judith Carrall
Designing tumour-targeting arsenic anti-cancer agents 
Primary Supervisor Dr Carolyn Dillon

Licai Cheng
The regulation of central leptin signalling by distinct fatty acids
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang

Dezerae Cox
The role of the small heat shock proteins in preventing alpha-synuclein aggregation associated with disease
Primary Supervisor Associate Professor Heath Ecroyd

Sarah Crennan
Improving the immune health of preterm infants using novel fatty acids
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang

David De Oliveira
Understanding the role of streptococcal M protein in invasive disease
Primary Supervisor Dr Martina Sanderson-Smith

Michael De Santis
Understanding the mechanisms of functionally selective antipsychotic drugs and Aripiprazole
Primary Supervisor Professor Chao Deng

Dzung Do-Ha
Non-cell autonomous mechanisms of neurodegeneration in motor neurone disease / amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Primary Supervisor Dr Lezanne Ooi

Amy Geddes
Does early developmental disruption make the brain more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis?
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang 

Yi Sing Gee
Synthesis of LSD1 inhibitors and the synthesis and reactivity of N-substitututed cyclopropanes
Primary Supervisor Dr Christopher Hyland

Nicholas Geraghty
Exploring the roles of purinergic signalling in inflammatory disorders
Primary Supervisor Associate Professor Ronald Sluyter

Thomas Griffiths
Understanding the bioluminescence mechanism of marine luciferases
Primary Supervisor Dr Haibo Yu

Nathanial Harris
Deciphering the role of SerpinB2 in cancer growth and metastasis
Primary Supervisor Professor Marie Ranson

Emma Hawksworth
Evaluation of the anti-cancer activity of Bismuth(III) complexes
Primary Supervisor Dr Carolyn Dillon

Meng He
Schizophrenia: Control of weight gain and metabolic disorders associated with antipsychotic therapy
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang

Han Ho
Visualization of DNA repair in live cells at the single-molecule level
Primary Supervisor Professor Antoine van Oijen 

Tiantian Jin
Lupane triterpenes and derivatives prevents development of obesity and diabetes via suppressing protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) as an allosteric inhibitor in silico, in vitro and in vivo
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang

Blagojce Jovcevski
Using native mass spectrometry to examine the structure-function relationship of small heat shock proteins
Primary Supervisor Associate Professor Heath Ecroyd 

Isabella Lambert Smith
Are proteostasis defects responsible for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Primary Supervisor Dr Justin Yerbury

Hoang Lan Chi Dinh
The role of NF-kB signalling during obesity-induced inflammation
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang

Joshua Leite
The roles of muscarinic M3 receptors in antipsychotic-induced glucometabolic side-effects
Primary Supervisor Professor Chao Deng

Jiamei Lian
The mechanisms for preventing and treating Olanzapine-induced obesity with betahisitine: Implications for clinical medication
Primary Supervisor Professor Chao Deng

Jeremy Lum
Novel antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang

Diane Ly
Bacterial subversion of the plasminogen activation system in the early stages of disease
Primary Supervisor Dr Martina Sanderson-Smith

Amy McGrath
The β-sliding clamp as a target for new antimicrobial drugs
Primary Supervisor Associate Professor Aaron Oakley

Enrico Monachino
The effects of DNA-protein roadblocks on DNA replication
Primary Supervisor Professor Antoine van Oijen

Varsha Natarajan
Single-molecule studies of the eukaryotic replisome
Primary Supervisor Professor Antoine van Oijen

Ashleigh Osborne
Therapeutic efficacy of cannabidiol on cognitive function and the underlying mechanisms
Primary Supervisor Dr Katrina Green

Bo Pan
The functionally selective effects of aripiprazole at the mesolimbic and nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways
Primary Supervisor Professor Chao Deng 

Melanie Pearsall
Transition-metal catalysed radiolabelling reaction development and synthesis of heterocycles from cyclopropenes
Primary Supervisor Dr Christopher Hyland

Jay Perry
Understanding the biology of metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
Primary Supervisor Professor Marie Ranson

Ranjith Raj
The effects of antipsychotic treatment on the binding density of adrenergic receptors in the rat brain
Primary Supervisor Professor Chao Deng

Dan Rivinoja
Dearomatisation reactions for the synthesis of novel heterocycles
Primary Supervisor Dr Christopher Hyland

Kate Roberts
Investigating the role of SOD1 in neuro-inflammation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Primary Supervisor Dr Justin Yerbury

Anthea Rote
The effect of disease-related mutations on the structure and function of the small heat shock molecular chaperone protein Hsp27
Primary Supervisor Associate Professor Heath Ecroyd

Rebecca San Gil
The mechanism and activation of the heat shock response in neurons
Primary Supervisor Associate Professor Heath Ecroyd

Sonia Sanz Munoz
Investigating APOE-dependent genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease
Primary Supervisor Dr Lezanne Ooi

Peta Snikeris
Schizophrenia and the immune system: ‘Messed-up’ through the PI3K/Akt pathway
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang

Lisanne Spenkelink
Visualization of exchange dynamics in the replisome
Primary Supervisor Professor Antoine van Oijen

Bhavaniprasad  Vipperla
Computational studies on the mechanisms of the O-GlcNAc transfer by O-GlcNAc transferase
Primary Supervisor Dr Haibo Yu

Heema Vyas
Developing more effective topical antimicrobial preparations for the treatment of biofilm associated skin infections
Primary Supervisor Dr Jason McArthur

Jennifer West
Structural and functional studies of new extracellular chaperones
Primary Supervisor Senior Professor Mark Wilson

Daniel Whiten
Clusterin: its role in motor neurone disease
Primary Supervisor Senior Professor Mark Wilson

Jonathan Williams
Subversion of cell-death mechanisms in invasive bacterial disease
Primary Supervisor Dr Martina Sanderson-Smith

Yizhen Wu
The role of hypothalamic AMPK signalling in central leptin resistance in diet-induced obesity and the regulation by triterpenoids
Primary Supervisor Professor Xu-Feng Huang

Kela Xiao
Understanding the catalytic mechanisms of glycoside hydrolases
Primary Supervisor Dr Haibo Yu

JieXiang Yin
Development of organotransition metal-catalysed reactions for the synthesis and reactivity of small molecules
Primary Supervisor Dr Christopher Hyland

Farzad Zamani
Synthesis and reactivity of highly functionalised allenes
Primary Supervisor Dr Christopher Hyland

Rafaa Zeineddine
The prion-like action of disease proteins in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: An infectious idea
Primary Supervisor Dr Justin Yerbury

Fanyu Zhang
Development of microemulsion formulations for the transdermal delivery of antimicrobial compounds
Primary Supervisor Dr Jason McArthur