Sarah Ftouni joined Peter Mac as a Masters of Science student in 2012 investigating acquired resistance in ovarian cancer under the supervision of Professor David Bowtell. Sarah joined the Dawson Laboratory in 2014 as a Research Assistant to both Professors Sarah-Jane and Mark Dawson, and is now the central point for all laboratory administration as Senior Laboratory Manager and Principal Research Assistant. Sarah specialises in genomic techniques, including Digital PCR and Tam-Seq, and has an interest in cell free DNA and liquid biopsy.
Enid obtained her PhD from the University of Auckland studying the development of haematopoietic stem cells in the zebrafish model. She then got into bioinformatics during a short postdoc at the University of Auckland. She moved to the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute in 2010 for a postdoc developing a method for the genome-wide mapping of the G-quadruplex in DNA. She joined the Dawson Laboratory in 2014 as a bioinformatician shortly after they moved to Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Chih completed a PhD in 2010 at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He then conducted postdoctoral work investigating the role of IgE antibody in non-allergic asthma with Professor Hannah Gould at King’s College London, United Kingdom (2010-2014). He joined the Dawson Laboratory in 2015 combining bioinformatics and laboratory research in the areas of normal and abnormal haematopoiesis.
Dane's research interests focus on the epigenetic control of transcriptional regulation. He completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne studying the transcriptional regulatory networks underlying carbon metabolism in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and how this process is modified in strains that are utilised for industrial scale bioethanol production. Dane joined the Dawson Lab in December 2017 to study epigenetic mechanisms of therapeutic resistance in acute myeloid leukaemia. He is developing methodologies that couple lineage tracing of individual leukemic clones to single cell sequencing technologies to understand the transcriptional and epigenetic changes that occur as a result of epigenetic therapeutic resistance. Ultimately this work will lead to an understanding of the key drivers of this phenomenon and will enable the targeting of these factors to severely limit the ability of AML clones to develop therapeutic resistance in the absence of additional genetic mutations.
Andrew is a clinician-scientist (haematologist) with an interest in myelodysplastic and bone marrow failure syndromes. He completed his haematology training and PhD at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne and proceeded to undertake postdoctoral work in the lab of Professor Benjamin Ebert at the Broad Institute and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from 2015-2019. There he worked on protein degradation, dissecting the roles of oncogenes in AML maintenance and on RNA splicing. Andrew joined the Dawson Laboratory in October 2019 where he has developed a particular interest in RNA biology and epigenetics. Other work is focused on understanding how the tumour microenvironment contributes to myeloid disease development and propagation.
Brian joined the Dawson Lab in January 2019 as a CJ Martin Postdoctoral fellow, investigating regulatory mechanisms that control DNMT1 function and DNA methylation in acute myeloid leukaemia. He completed his undergraduate degree, majoring in microbiology and immunology, at the University of Melbourne. He then obtained his honours working on CD8 T cell biology in the lab of Laureate Professor Peter Doherty. He then worked as a research assistant with A/Professor Carl Walkley at St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research. There he developed an interest in RNA editing and successfully obtained a scholarship from the Leukaemia Foundation to undertake his PhD; exploring the role of ADAR1 in haematopoiesis and leukaemia. He completed his PhD in 2016 and then joined the lab of Professor Benjamin Ebert as a postdoc at the Broad Institute in Boston, United States. There he gained extensive experience with CRISPR-Cas9 and high-throughput sequencing technologies and developed an interested in chromatin biology and epigenetics.
Laura completed her undergraduate studies at Western University, Canada in 2006. She completed her MSc in 2008 and PhD in 2013 both in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Toronto. After relocating to Melbourne, she joined the Dawson Laboratory in 2015 where she performed genetic screens in leukaemic stem cells to identify unique dependencies for their survival. This work has led her to being part of a research collaboration with Cancer Therapeutics CRC where she is investigating the mechanism of action of small molecule inhibitors against chromatin modifying enzymes.
Dineika obtained her PhD at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute in 2015 and carried out a three-year post-doc at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. She then joined the Dawson Laboratory in 2019 as a senior postdoctoral fellow who develops statistical and informatics techniques to address questions in molecular and medical biology. Dineika's current research focuses on using circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) as a minimally invasive blood-based biomarker in projects within Australia and through ongoing international collaborations in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. She leads a small bioinformatics team by supervising a PhD student and a research assistant to develop innovative methods that can analyse multi-omic data from ctDNA to both detect and monitor cancer. Dineika's ongoing passion is to translate these methodologies to the clinic under the mantra of ‘bench to bedside’.
Ali completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Molecular Bioengineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Tokyo, Japan. During his last year as an undergraduate and additional eight months as a researcher, he focused his research on neural and pancreatic differentiation of mouse pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) under supervision of Professor Akaike. He then moved to Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. He joined Dr Draper’s Lab where he started his research on breast cancer chemotherapy and early fate decision of human PSCs. In September 2013 Ali joined Professor Ed Stanley’s lab at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne to undertake his PhD studies. Ali's PhD project was focused on B- and T-lymphocyte differentiation from human PSCs. After receiving his PhD, Ali continued his research in Professor Ed Stanley’s lab as a postdoctoral scientist for an additional three years. In August 2020 Ali joined Professor Mark Dawson’s lab to continue his postdoctoral research. Ali’s research is focused on kinetics of hematopoietic stem cell expansion and differentiation.
Stephen is a senior research officer and medical scientist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He obtained his PhD in the lab of A/Professor Tim Cole at Monash University in 2010 before joining the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre as a postdoctoral fellow in 2012. Stephen's research focuses on identifying and characterising novel molecular biomarkers in melanoma and other malignancies and developing new genomic technologies for patient care.
Charles is interested in understanding the fundamental molecular principles of gene regulation and how they go wrong in the context of cancer. He grew up in Queensland, where he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Queensland majoring in genetics and evolutionary biology. Following this, Charles worked as a research assistant for three years studying early embryonic development, before moving to Melbourne to undertake his PhD.
Kathy obtained her undergraduate degree in 1999 at Deakin University. Having previously worked at the WEHI, Cambridge University and the University of New South Wales, Kathy joined the Dawson Laboratory in February 2018 as a Research Assistant supporting ongoing projects.
Harrison moved to Melbourne in 2018 after graduating with First Class Honours in Biomedical Science from The University of Queensland in Brisbane. He has previously worked on problems in computational neuroscience and neuromuscular biology, before joining the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in 2020. His research interests involve using genomic technologies to understand more about how cancers dynamically respond and adapt to therapy at a fundamental level.
Miriam completed her BSc with a major in Human Physiology, before pursuing a MSc in Bioinformatics completing both degrees through the University of Melbourne. She joined the Dawson Laboratory in November 2017 as a bioinformatics research assistant, contributing analysis to multiple projects across both Professors Sarah-Jane and Mark Dawson’s laboratory groups. In addition to her research role, Miriam also has a keen interest in teaching coding, data management and is a secretary on the Research Support Co-operative Committee.
Katie is a postdoctoral fellow in the Dawson Laboratory and her research interest lies with using single cell technologies to understand clonal behaviour in cancer. After completing her Bachelor of Biomedical Science in the United Kingdom, she relocated to Melbourne in 2013 to continue her studies. In 2016, she received an MSc in Neuroscience from The University of Melbourne under the supervision of Professor Anthony Hannan. She subsequently joined the Dawson Laboratory for her PhD, where she designed and constructed a novel single cell lineage tracing tool to study non-genetic malignant clonal fitness in leukaemia.
Kah-Lok is a consultant haematologist at the Parkville Integrated Haematology Service (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Royal Melbourne Hospital). He obtained his undergraduate medical degree from the University of Melbourne in 2009 and completed joint specialist training in haematology through the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia in 2018. Kah-Lok commenced his PhD in the Dawson laboratories in February 2018 and is exploring the utility of ctDNA for characterising the mutational landscape of marginal zone lymphoma, monitoring treatment response and detecting emergence of resistance.
Christina is a PhD student at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. In 2013, she was jointly awarded her Bachelor of Medical Science from the Australian National University and University of South Australia, and achieved First Class Honours (ANU) in 2014. Christina joined the Dawson Laboratory as a Research Assistant in 2016 working with A/Professor Marian Burr on investigating molecular mechanisms of immune evasion. In 2018 she began her PhD under the supervision of Professor Mark Dawson and A/Professor Marian Burr. Her PhD research focuses on elucidating the role of epigenetic regulators in immune evasion and overcoming immunotherapy resistance in MHC-I deficient cancers.
Vicky completed a Bachelor of Biomedicine with Honours in cancer immunology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in 2016. She joined the Dawson Laborarty in 2017 as a Research Assistant and has recently begun her PhD under the joint supervision of Professor Mark Dawson and Dr. Andrew Cox. Using zebrafish, Vicky's PhD aims to elucidate the adaptive transcriptional changes during liver regeneration and cancer in the context of transcription factor Nrf2. She is also interested in developing new zebrafish models that can help us understand such changes with greater temporal resolution.
Jesse is a clinician-scientist whose research focus lies with developing novel proteomic tools to dissect the molecular mechanisms of gene regulation in cancer. He completed his PhD in 2017 under the supervision of Professor Brendan Jenkins at The Hudson Institute of Medical Research, focusing on the role of STAT3 serine phosphorylation in gastric cancer. He received his medical degree from the University of Melbourne in 2020 and is currently working as a junior doctor. Jesse joined the Dawson Laboratory as an Honorary Postdoctoral Fellow where he is exploring the role of oncogene regulation in cancer using novel genetic and biochemical approaches.
Wendy completed her Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne majoring in Microbiology and Immunology. In 2020, she completed her Honours at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre where she was awarded the Nicole Lundie Undergraduate Student Prize. During her Honours, Wendy developed a strong interest in cancer epigenetics and recently joined the Dawson Laboratory as a research assistant to further her career as a scientist.
Laure is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Dawson Laboratory. She obtained her Engineering degree (French equivalent to MSc) at the Bioinformatics and Modelling department of INSA Lyon (France) in 2016. She then moved to the United Kingdom and completed her PhD at Cambridge University in 2020. Laure's thesis aimed to use various computational models to study the impact of biological event timing on blood cancer evolution. Her scientific interests are to understand cancer progression and therapeutic resistance by building mathematical models, as well as programming and applying bioinformatic tools on genomic data.
Andrew completed a combined medical and graduate research degree in 2017 at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Since then, he has worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Professors Margreet Vissers and Mark Hampton at the Centre for Free Radical Research, investigating potential intersections between epigenetics and redox biology in cancer. Andrew joined the Dawson Laboratory in 2021, and his main research focus is combining single-molecule imaging techniques with multi-omic data in order to uncover the mechanisms by which leukaemia evolves in response to therapy.
Elanor completed her PhD in Genetics at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, studying mammalian urogenital differentiation. She then joined the Francis Crick Institute, London, as a postdoctoral researcher studying epigenetic mechanisms in cancer. In 2021 Elanor joined the laboratory of Professor Mark Dawson at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Her main research interest is in clonal evolution, in particular trying to dissect epigenetic mechanisms that lead to cellular heterogeneity and clone selection in cancer.
Laura moved to Melbourne from the United Kingdom to join the Dawson lab as a research assistant in November 2020. In 2015 she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Immunology at University College London (UCL), where she worked on developing TCR-modified T cells against haematological malignancies. Laura went on to complete a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) at UCL in 2018. She worked as a junior doctor in London and completed the Academic Foundation Programme for dual training as a clinician-scientist in 2020. Laura is currently studying the determinants of CAR-T cell persistence using single cell barcoding technologies.
Oliver graduated from University College London (UCL) with a degree in Biochemical Engineering in 2019. Upon graduating he joined AstraZeneca where he worked on developing biophysical assays for early hit discovery. During the coronavirus pandemic he was involved in the setup and running of a diagnostic laboratory. His PhD commenced in 2021 and is split between the lab of Tim Somervaille in Manchester and the Dawson Laboratory. His current research involves the application of functional genomics to primary samples to identify better potential therapy targets and uncover the mechanisms behind variable prognosis in the clinic.
Clare is a Laboratory Haematologist and a Postdoctoral Scientist in the Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory and the Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Clare obtained her MBBS from the University of Queensland and obtained her PhD at the Translational Research Institute, University of Queensland. She undertook two years of sub-specialty training as a Molecular Haematology Fellow in the diagnostic haematology laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. Clare’s research interests are in applying genomic technologies to identify molecular biomarkers in haematological malignancies and to examine interactions between the immune tumour microenvironment and tumour cells, to improve understanding of disease and inform more effective cancer treatments.
Jamie is a clinical haematologist currently undertaking his PhD in the Dawson Laboratory. After completing his MBBS from the University of Western Australia in 2011, he underwent physician training at Royal Perth & Fiona Stanley Hospitals and advanced training in clinical and laboratory haematology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Royal Melbourne & Austin Hospital. He was awarded dual fellowships from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia in 2021. Jamie's current research is involved in understanding the biology of poor-risk B-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, with a focus on resistance mechanisms to CAR T-cell therapy.
Paul is a consultant haematologist and postdoctoral researcher in the Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory and Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory. His research focus utilises novel sequencing techniques to understand the molecular pathogenesis and evolution from pre-malignant clonal haematopoiesis to haematological malignancy.
Chen obtained her Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in developmental biology, at Monash University. She subsequently completed her Honours degree with the support of the Monash Jubilee Honours Scholarship, before joining the Dawson Laboratory in 2015. Chen's research focuses on evaluating the role of ctDNA for molecular minimal disease monitoring in high-risk early stage breast cancer.
Annie is a Research Assistant who helps to coordinate the breast clinical studies in the Dawson Laboratory. She completed her Bachelor and Master degree in 2016 at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Following her studies, Annie worked as a Research Assistant in a Gynae-Oncology laboratory at the University of Newcastle for two years before moving to Melbourne. Annie’s research interest is in women’s cancer with both breast and gynae oncological aspects.
Jerick has worked at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre since 2016. His previous role was as a medical scientist in the Pathology department where he performed molecular diagnostic testing on leukaemia patients. In 2019 Jerick moved to the Research department as part of a collaboration between A/Professor Paul Ekert and Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson’s teams to work on molecular assays for paediatric sarcomas. In his role as a research assistant he will be working primarily with circulating tumour DNA and developing both digital PCR and next-generation sequencing assays.
Sushma came to Australia to obtain her Masters of Biotechnology from The University of Queensland, Brisbane. Since then, she worked for the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF) as a Sequencing Technician before joining Molecular Pathology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre as a Medical Scientist. Here Sushma validated Next-Generation Sequencing kits and translated diagnostic tests from the research lab to the diagnostic settings before proceeding to join Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson's Molecular Biomarkers & Translational Genomics laboratory as a Research Assistant. In this role, Sushma performs testing on multiple clinical trial samples including solid organ malignancies and haematological disorders. Her interests mainly lie in Translational Research.
Cassie completed a BSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Diploma in Applied Mathematics at the University of Melbourne. She then decided to combine her interests in biology, mathematics and programming by undertaking a MSc in Bioinformatics at the University of Melbourne. Following her Masters she joined the Dawson Laboratory as a bioinformatician in 2018. Currently Cassie is also a member of the bioinformatics core at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Lavinia is a medical oncologist in the lung cancer service at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and a current clinician-PhD student. She obtained her undergraduate medical degree from the University of Melbourne in 2008 and completed her specialist training in medical oncology and a clinical fellowship focusing on lung cancer through the Royal Australian College of Physicians in 2017. Lavinia commenced her PhD in the Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory in 2018 exploring the utility of circulating tumour DNA to guide precision medicine in solid malignancies.
Louisa is a medical oncology research fellow at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She obtained her undergraduate medical degree with honours from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom in 2009 and she completed her specialist training through the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 2017. She commenced her PhD in the Dawson Laboratory in February 2018 and is studying the role of ctDNA as a predictive biomarker in metastatic breast cancer.
Sebastian completed his Bioinformatics Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Munich, Germany. He subsequently worked as a Bioinformatician at the Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital with a focus on rare hereditary immune defects. In October 2018 he started his PhD with Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson, specializing in the analysis of longitudinal and spatial heterogeneity in cancer.
Rishu is a consultant molecular haematologist at Austin Health. She has completed her training in haematology through the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia in 2016 and undertook her PhD studies within the Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre from 2016-2019. Rishu's PhD studies were funded by a NHMRC Post Graduate Scholarship and HSANZ New Investigator Fellowship. Research undertaken in Mantle Cell Lymphomas during her PhD (defining novel therapies, resistance mechanisms and molecular biomarkers) has resulted in several high impact publications including the New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine (2019). Rishu is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow with Professors Sarah-Jane and Mark Dawson and was awarded a Cancer Council Victoria Fellowship (2021-2024) to identify blood based biomarkers to define treatment response to targeted therapeutics in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia. Rishu's ongoing research interests lie in understanding the genomic evolution of haematological malignancies and using this information to develop non-invasive molecular biomarkers for clinical application. She wants to continue to focus on the development of predictive biomarkers, to enable personalised disease monitoring and facilitate therapeutic decisions in haematological malignancies, and thereby improve patient outcomes.
Jessica obtained her Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne majoring in Immunology and joined the Dawson Laboratory in 2020 as a Research Assistant, helping to investigate the role of ctDNA as a blood-based biomarker for tracking breast cancer progression and response to therapy. Jessica is currently in the first year of her postgraduate medical degree at the University of Melbourne.
