Current Fellows
Dr Dominic Guanzon is the latest recipient of the Queensland and Northern New South Wales Lions Medical Research Foundation Fellowship. Dr Guanzon is a research fellow based at the University of Queensland Exosome Biology Laboratory led by our previous senior research fellow, Associate Professor Carlos Salomon. The Exosome Biology Laboratory is located at the Centre for Clinical Diagnostics (CCD) within UQ Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR).
Click here to go on a tour of the UQCCR Research Lab
Dr Guanzon, a well-published researcher, will be solving a significant problem in ovarian cancer by predicting when ovarian cancer recurs and whether it is resistant to cancer drugs (chemoresistance). Unfortunately, more than 60% of patients with advanced stage ovarian cancer develop recurrent disease, and prognosis is very poor due to chemoresistance.
Currently, there are no diagnostic tests available to predict ovarian cancer recurrence and chemoresistance. To address this need, Dr Guanzon will be establishing the “EvOmics” subsidiary. Using blood from ovarian cancer patients, the EvOmics team will develop a diagnostic test to analyse all biomolecules within extracellular vesicles (EVs). Using this proteo-genomic approach has several advantages, such as requiring less blood and increased detection for recurrence and chemoresistance in women with ovarian cancer.
When completed, this blood diagnostic test would increase survival by 50% to 110% for women with the most common type of ovarian cancer (HGSOC).
Project: Developing a companion diagnostic test for ovarian cancer recurrence and chemoresistance using extracellular vesicles.
Dr Olivia Holland is the 2019 recipient of the Queensland and Northern New South Wales Lions Medical Research Foundation Fellowship.
To align with the global causes of Lions Clubs International, a diabetes researcher was sought for this prestigious scholarship and the Foundation appointed Dr Olivia Holland as a recipient of Lions Medical Research Foundation Fellowship.. Dr Holland is a research fellow based at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, and the School of Medical Science, Griffith University. She completed her PhD at the University of Auckland and worked as a research fellow at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, the University of Auckland, before moving to Queensland in 2014.
Click here to hear more about Dr Olivia Holland and her research team
As a researcher, Dr Holland is focused on improving pregnancy health, and understanding how events during pregnancy can impact the ongoing heath of mother and child. Dr Holland has a particular interest in diabetes during pregnancy, and in the underlying mechanisms that link placental dysfunction to pregnancy complications and the later development of conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes in adulthood. Dr Holland also investigates maternal nutrition, and how diet modifications and antioxidant treatment could be used to improve outcomes both during pregnancy and beyond.
Dr Holland has published widely in reproductive research, presented at many national and international scientific conferences, and received numerous awards and funding for her work.
Diabetes during pregnancy is a major Australian and global health problem, the incidence of which is rapidly escalating. With the support of the Lions Medical Research Foundation, Dr Holland will be working to determine the relationship between placental mitochondrial function and diabetes during pregnancy, and how we might better treat this increasingly critical health issue.
Olivia officially commenced with LMRF on 1 May 2019
Testimonials
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from Dr Olivia Holland (Gestational Diabetes)