Ms Malvika Kharbanda
Higher Degree by Research Candidate
School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
College of Health
I am interested in understanding how gene regulation drives cancer progression and influences patient outcomes. My work focuses on transcription factors and how their activity contributes to aggressive forms of cancer. Using large clinical datasets from prostate cancer trials along with multiomic technologies, I apply and develop computational approaches to study regulatory networks within tumours.
To better understand how these regulatory programs operate within the tumour microenvironment, I am also developing methods for analysing spatial molecular data. My current work includes building computational tools to improve signal correction and interpretation in multiplex spatial proteomics imaging datasets, which enablesd a more accurate mapping of cellular interactions within the tumour microenvironment.
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 - 2023 | Research Assistant | Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research |
| Language | Competency |
|---|---|
| English | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| Hindi | Can read, write, speak and understand spoken |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Melbourne | Australia | Master of Science (Bioinformatics) | |
| Vellore Institute of Technology University | India | Bchelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering (spl. Bioinformatics) |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2026 | McKeown, S., Roberts, K., Feher, K., Centenera, M. M., Warner, N., Price, K. J., . . . Sweeney, C. J. (2026). Building Movember-SAiGENCI-Transformational Integrated Repository (MSTIR): A global database to enable clinical and biomarker discovery in prostate cancer care. In ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY Vol. 22 (pp. S63-S64). WILEY. |
| 2026 | Kharbanda, M., Liu, N. W., Ouyang, J. F., Zhang, P. T., Pook, D., Davis, I. D., . . . Polo, J. M. (2026). Beyond the androgen receptor: decoding master regulators of aggressive prostate cancer. In ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY Vol. 22 (pp. S62). WILEY. |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Liu, N., Martin, J., Bhuva, D., Chen, J., Li, M., Lee, S., . . . Davis, M. (2024). hoodscanR: profiling single-cell neighborhoods in spatial transcriptomics data. DOI Europe PMC2 |
| 2023 | Hediyeh-zadeh, S., Whitfield, H., Kharbanda, M., Curion, F., Bhuva, D., Theis, F., & Davis, M. (2023). Identification of cell types, states and programs by learning gene set representations. DOI Europe PMC1 |
| 2021 | Dona, M. S. I., Hsu, I., Rathnayake, T., Farrugia, G., Gaynor, T., Kharbanda, M., . . . Pinto, A. (2021). CLARA: A web portal for interactive exploration of the cardiovascular cellular landscape in health and disease. DOI Europe PMC1 |
| Date | Role | Committee | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 - ongoing | Treasurer | COMBINE Executive Committee | Australian Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Society (ABACBS) | Australia |
| Date | Role | Membership | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 - ongoing | Member | Australian Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Society (ABACBS) | Australia |