Teaching Strengths
Ms Sally Perrin
Higher Degree by Research Candidate
School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
College of Health
Sally Perrin completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology (B.Psych. Hons), undertaking her Honours research in chronobiology (sleep research), meal-timing and health symptoms in Australian flight attendants in the Behaviour-Brain-Body Research Centre (UniSA) under the supervision panel of Professor Siobhan Banks, Professor Jill Dorrin and Professor Alison Coates. Sally further developed her knowledge in sleep and neuroscience working on various projects at Central Queensland University’s (CQU) Adelaide-based Appleton Institute as part of a research team and as an academic staff member. Sally has worked as part of a teaching team, teaching undergraduate psychology courses at UniSA and CQU. As an undergraduate Sally completed an internship in the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab under Professor Hannah Keage. She has completed multiple graduate degree training opportunities including Biostatistics for Heath Research and holds multiple undergraduate certifications including a Diploma in Community Services Coordination.
Currently, Sally is a dedicated Graduate Researcher/PhD Candidate at the Centre for Cancer Biology as part of the Precision Medicine in Neuro-oncology Lab (As/Professor Gomez), sitting within the School of Pharmacy and Biomedicine (Adelaide University). Sallys doctoral research leverages patient demographics with cutting edge technologies such as stem cell, brain organoids and next generation sequencing (NGS) to model outcomes in brain cancer. Sallys project explores glioblastoma heterogeneity and the "neuroimmune" cellular microenvironment identifying novel roles the cellular niches play in personalised medicines and as potential biomarkers, ultimately improving patient outcomes.
Sallys work is characterised by an interdisciplinary approach spanning, neuroscience, wet-lab and bioinformatics. Sally is proficient in the culture of brain organoids using human pluripotent/embryonic stem cells to model brain diseases such as brain cancer. Sally's wet-lab experience encompasses stem-cell derived technologies to generate not only ectoderm (brain) but mesoderm lineage progenitors (vasculature/immune) for co-culture. Sally is an active contributor to the scientific community, engaging in peer-review processes and in maintaining memberships in multiple societies including the Graduate Researchers Interdisciplinary Network (GRiN), the Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Society and the Australasian Neuroscience Society (ANS). Her academic excellence has been recognised through the Domestic Research Training Program (RTP) Stipend and as a recipient of the Chancellor’s Letters of Commendation.
Sally hope's through hard work and as part of a teaching and research team she can help shape the world around her – whilst also becoming a little wiser each day.
Glioblastoma is the most diagnosed, aggressive and deadly form of Brain Cancer. With no cure, the current gold standard treatment approaches are highly invasive with minimal benefit to overall patient survival. These blanket treatments can maximise patient survival to 15 months on average. Despite receiving treatment, glioblastoma almost inevitably recurs and despite best efforts, therapies have not improved patient outcomes for the past 30 years. Apart from a high-level of heterogeneity, this tumour shows a high level of inter - and intra - heterogeneity, seen within and between tumour patients, with the immune system known to be implicated in patient outcomes . Taken together, these factors are key drivers of drug resistance, tumour recurrence and immune evasion. Sally's research uses cutting edge technologies such as brain organoids, single cell sequencing and spatial transcriptomics to better understand the cellular and non-cellular tumour microenvironment. Sally's project leverages known variables such as biologic data (genomic expression) with patient demographics and outcomes (survival, drug response). Sally's project aims to analyse:
- the cellular tumour (non-tumour cells, immune cells, 'Glioma-associated macrophages/monocytes', (GAMM), microglia etc.) and tumour microenvironment (TME)
- the non-cellular tumour microenvironment (TME)
Of interest is the genomic expression by certain immune cells, between the tumour and non-tumour microenvironment. Using bioinformatic tools Sally hopes to find novel factors that better guide personalised approaches, highlighted by altered patient survival and improved patient outcomes.
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 - 2017 | University of South Australia | Australia | Bachelor of Psychology (Hons) |
| 2010 - 2016 | University of South Australia | Australia | Bachelor of Psychological Science |
| Date | Title | Institution name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Diploma of Community Services Coordination | TAFE SA | Australia |
| 2010 | Certificate 4 in Youth Work | TAFE SA | Australia |
| 2009 | Certificate 4 in Community Services (specialising in Family Services) | TAFE SA | Australia |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2018 | Perrin, S. L., Dorrian, J., Coates, A. M., Gupta, C. C., Centofanti, S. A., Beyne, K., . . . Banks, S. (2018). SLEEP, MEAL TIMING AND MOTIVATIONS FOR EATING IN AUSTRALIAN FLIGHT ATTENDANTS. In SLEEP Vol. 41 (pp. A48-A49). MD, Baltimore: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. DOI |
| 2016 | Sleep DownUnder 2016, 'Connections' Abstracts. 28th ASM of Australasian Sleep Association and Australasian Sleep Technologists Association, 20-22 October 2016, Adelaide, Australia. (2016). In Journal of sleep research Vol. 25 Suppl 2 (pp. 5-93). England: Wiley. DOI |
Sally's PhD is sponsored by a domestic Research and Training Program Scholarship.
Prior to the merger Sally was involved in the provision of UniSA's Online Psychological Science Teaching Team, delivering various undergraduate courses, as an Online Tutor and as part of a teaching team (Casual teaching activities). Prior to this Sally formed part of a teaching team as an academic and tutor/marker at Central Queensland University (CQU) Adelaide-based Appleton Institute.
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