Rebekah de Nys

Dr Rebekah de Nys

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

School of Medicine

College of Health

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

Advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) patients often exhaust current treatments, prompting the need for innovative approaches. Genetically engineered Escherichia coli Nissle (EcN) strains are currently undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of refractory advanced cancers and phenylketonuria. The Gut Cancer Lab has shown that EcN preferentially colonizes tumours over healthy tissue post-oral administration in our orthotopic CRC mouse model as well as CRC patients. Furthermore, genetic modification of EcN allowing the targeted release of anti-cancer therapeutics, direct to the tumour. My project focuses on investigating the reason behind EcN's tumour homing behaviour, and engineering biocontainment and safety mechanisms fit for clinical translation.

Date Position Institution name
2023 - ongoing Postdoctoral researcher University of Adelaide

Language Competency
English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review

Date Institution name Country Title
2019 - 2023 University of Adelaide Australia PhD
University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Science (Molecular Biology) (1st Class Honours)

Year Citation
2025 Syphers, J. L., Wright, J. A., Liu, S., Gee, Y. S., Gao, F., Mudududdla, R., . . . Baell, J. B. (2025). Discovery of WEE1 Kinase Inhibitors with Potent Activity against Patient-Derived, Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Organoids. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 68(8), 8065-8090.
DOI Scopus1 WoS3 Europe PMC1
2024 Radford, G. A., Vrbanac, L., de Nys, R. T., Worthley, D. L., Wright, J. A., Hasty, J., & Woods, S. L. (2024). Towards Understanding Tumour Colonisation by Probiotic Bacterium E. coli Nissle 1917. Cancers, 16(17), 2971-1-2971-18.
DOI Scopus7 WoS6
2024 de Nys, R., van Eyk, C. L., Ritchie, T., Møller, R. S., Scheffer, I. E., Marini, C., . . . Gecz, J. (2024). Multiomic analysis implicates nuclear hormone receptor signalling in clustering epilepsy. Translational Psychiatry, 14(1), 1-9.
DOI Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC4
2024 de Nys, R., Gardner, A. E., van Eyk, C., Tasheva, S., Thomas, P. Q., Bhattacharjee, R., . . . Gecz, J. (2024). Proteomic analysis of the developing mammalian brain links PCDH19 to the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway. Molecular Psychiatry, 29(7), 2199-2210.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2023 Abstracts from the 55th European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) Conference: Hybrid Posters (2023). European Journal of Human Genetics, 31(S1), 345-709.
DOI
2021 Pham, D. H., Pitman, M. R., Sharma, R., Jolly, L., Schulz, R., Gardner, A., . . . Gecz, J. (2021). Integrated in silico and experimental assessment of disease relevance of PCDH19 missense variants. Hum Mutat, 42(8), 1030-1041.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
2021 de Nys, R., Sharma, R., & Gecz, J. (2021). Protocadherin 19 clustering epilepsy and neurosteroids: opportunities for intervention. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(18), 9769-1-9769-14.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC5

Year Citation
2023 de Nys, R., Ritchie, T., Bhattacharje, R., Kumar, R., & Gecz, J. (2023). PCDH19 is regulated by neurosteroids and their receptors. Poster session presented at the meeting of EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN GENETICS. AUSTRIA, Vienna: SPRINGERNATURE.

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor Genetic engineering of Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 to improve biosafety and therapeutic precision Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Sara Foschini
2025 Co-Supervisor Genetic engineering of Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 to improve biosafety and therapeutic precision Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Sara Foschini

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