The Univeristy of Melbourne The Royal Melbourne Hopspital

A joint venture between The University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne Hospital

EDUCATION

Research Projects

Project: Transforming infectious disease diagnostics with human biomarkers of infection

Pasricha Group

Accessible, rapid and accurate diagnosis is fundamental to preventing and controlling infectious diseases. Understanding individual responses to infection provides crucial insights for diagnosis and assessing treatment efficacy.  Upon infection, the immune system activates specific responses tailored to combat the invading pathogen often altering gene expression (transcription). These changes in transcription can serve as early biomarkers of infection, sometimes preceding the onset of symptoms.  This project aims to leverage large transcriptomic datasets to identify human biomarkers of infection. These biomarkers will be integrated into an innovative point-of-care platform, thereby extending testing capabilities to enhance clinical and research outcomes. 

In essence, the research candidate will have the opportunity to take cutting-edge molecular laboratory techniques and apply them to the development and validation of improved diagnostic technologies. This project would suit a student with a background and/or interest in microbiology, molecular genetics, bioinformatics and statistics.  
 

Contact project supervisor for further
information and application enquiries

Project Supervisor

Dr Shivani Pasricha

Project Co-supervisor

Dr Prashanth Ramachandran

Project availability
PhD/MPhil

Pasricha Group

shivani.pasricha@unimelb.edu.au

1 vacancies

Themes
Cross Cutting Disciplines

The Pasricha Lab is passionate about developing and improving diagnostic tools for the detection of infectious diseases. With a heavy emphasis on translational research, we hope to see our research contribute to early diagnosis and improved disease control and surveillance. We work closely with clinicians, laboratory scientists at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) and industry partners on infectious diseases who need real-time responses. All students are mentored by multiple members of our team, experts in bioinformatic analysis, microbiology and molecular laboratory techniques. Our students are also given the opportunity to present their work to collaborators and clinicians.