Elyse Page

Elyse Page

School of Biomedicine

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Dr Elyse Page is an early career postdoctoral research fellow with the leukaemia research group at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). She completed her PhD in 2020 with a Dean’s Commendation. Dr Page leads the Down Syndrome acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) research, and genetically modified organism (GMO) studies in SAHMRI’s Blood Cancer Program. Her current research focuses on predisposing factors to leukaemia development, gene therapy for precision medicine cancer treatments, and the role of the gut microbiome in leukaemia progression and response to therapy. Dr Page’s long-term goal is to use creative cell and in vivo models to determine predisposing factors for Down Syndrome leukaemia development and implement novel treatment strategies with less toxicity than standard-of-care chemotherapy.

Children with Down Syndrome (DS) have a 20-fold increased risk of developing acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. While chemotherapy is the most effective treatment for childhood leukaemia, children with DS experience treatment related toxicity, and lower survival rates. Therefore, there remains an urgent need to design new treatment strategies. It is essential to understand how the different genetic mutations or abnormally expressed proteins drive the growth of DS leukaemia. This research will investigate why children with DS are more likely to develop leukaemia and the key genetic interactions involved in the generation of a DS leukaemic cell. This information will help us to identify new therapeutic targets and discover which drugs may aid in the cure of disease. Importantly, many drugs that target these genetic abnormalities are in use for other diseases and are safe. Through the use of a targeted therapy, there is the potential to decrease the dosage of the toxic chemotherapy to improve treatment efficacy for children with DS leukaemia.

 

Project 1

Title: Identifying the mechanism of cooperation between HMGN1 and CRLF2 in Down Syndrome acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Description: The key objective is to identify the mechanism by which the increased dosage of HMGN1leads to leukaemic transformation in DS-ALL patients. I have previously demonstrated that HMGN1cooperates with CRLF2 for leukaemic transformation and that neither lesion alone is sufficient for the development of leukaemia. However, the mechanism by which this occurs, and the protein/epigenomic interaction of HMGN1 & CRLF2+ cells remain elusive.

Projects available for: Honours and HDR

Location: SAHMRI

Research project start: Semester 1

Max Number of Students: 1

Category: Wet Lab

Special Requirements: Police Clearance

 

Project 2

Title: Investigating the role of the gut microbiota on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia development and progression

Description: The composition and function of the gut microbiota strongly influences numerous functions of the immune and metabolic systems. In childhood ALL, there is evidence, from a number of small clinical studies, that the microbiome plays a role in treatment efficacy/toxicity. However, to date, no study has directly assessed these relationships. Recent studies have also demonstrated that disruption of the gut microbiota was observed in children with ALL at the time of diagnosis, suggesting the importance of the microbiota in disease pathogenesis. Cause and/or effect are difficult to prove in clinical studies, particularly when chemotherapy and antibiotics, both of which impact the microbiota, are integral to treatment protocols. In this study, we will address these significant questions in patient material and carefully constructed and controlled novel pre-clinical models, which will enable us to directly assess if the microbiota plays a critical role in the response to ALL therapy.

Projects available for: HDR

Location: SAHMRI

Research project start: Semester 1 or 2

Max Number of Students: 1

Category: Wet Lab

Special Requirements: Police Clearance

Simone Family Fellowship 2021

SAHMRI Seed Funding 2021

Guest Lecturer in Biochemistry III: Cancer, stem cells and development

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Identifying Predictors of CNS involvement in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Luke Jacob Quinlan
    2023 Co-Supervisor Exploring the impact of the gut microbiota on the clinical scenario in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia patients Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Cate Viktorija Cheney
    2022 Co-Supervisor Investigation of current, innovative treatments and the roles of secondary genomic lesions in BCR-ABL1 positive leukaemias Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Elias Lagonik

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