Dr Susan Woods
Senior Research Fellow (D)
Adelaide Medical School
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.
A/Prof. Susan L. Woods.
Bowel and stomach cancers have high mortality rates when not diagnosed early, resulting in more than 6,000 deaths in Australia each year. That is way too many. The 5-year survival for advanced disease is 12% for bowel cancer and 5% for stomach cancer. This highlights the need for improvements to our screening approaches to identify early disease and new options for treatment of advanced disease. In addition to increased rates of bowel cancer in younger adults (
- My Research
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- Publications
- Grants and Funding
- Teaching
- Supervision
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Gut Cancer Group Student Projects
Title: Using patient derived organoids and genomics to guide personalised treatment for advanced bowel cancer
Project description: Together with our Australian research partners, we combine genomic analyses and patient organoid drug sensitivity assays to assess personalised treatment regimes for patients with advanced disease. We are using this to guide therapy choice for patients, reducing unwarranted side-effects and providing new treatment options for patients that have exhausted standard care options.
Projects available for: HDR
Location: SAHMRI
Research project start: Semester 1 and 2
Special requirements: Vaccination required
Title: Probiotic bacteria to detect and treat bowel cancer
Project description: This project focuses on probiotic bacteria that naturally seek out cancer to develop novel sensors of early disease and to deliver tumour specific, immune-activating payloads to treat a broad range of advanced bowel cancers.
Projects available for: HDR
Location: SAHMRI
Research project start: Semester 1 and 2
Special requirements: Vaccination required
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2022 - ongoing A/Prof University of Adelaide 2019 - 2021 Beat Cancer SA Fellow & Group Leader University of Adelaide 2018 - ongoing Senior Research Fellow SAHMRI 2015 - 2018 Associate Research Fellow SAHMRI 2015 - ongoing Senior Research Fellow University of Adelaide -
Awards and Achievements
Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount 2019 Award Community Engagement Award SAHMRI SAHMRI Australia - 2019 Achievement Pitch Perfect Finalist SAHMRI SAHMRI Australia - 2018 Award Best Mid-Career Researcher Award SAHMRI SAHMRI Australia - 2017 Award Poster of Merit Finalist Gastroenterological Society of Australia, GESA Australia - 2017 Award Faculty of Health Sciences Research Travel Award University of Adelaide Australia - 2016 Award Tall Poppy Science Award (SA) Australian Institute of Policy & Science Australia - 2016 Award Faculty of Health Sciences Dependant Travel Award university of adelaide Australia - 2015 Award University of Adelaide Women’s Research Excellence award the university of Adelaide Australia - 2011 Award ASMR Best Senior Researcher Award (QLD) Australian Society for Medical Research (QLD) Australia - 1999 Award Adelaide National Research Scholarship the university of Adelaide Australia - -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title University of Adelaide Australia PhD -
Postgraduate Training
Date Title Institution Country Postdoctoral Fellow University of California, San Francisco United States Research Fellow QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Australia -
Research Interests
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Journals
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Conference Papers
Year Citation 2017 Bond, C., Liu, C., Kawamata, F., Mckeone, D., Jamieson, S., Pearson, S., . . . Whitehall, V. (2017). Oncogenic <i>BRAF</i> mutation induces widespread DNA hypermethylation in a murine model for human serrated colorectal neoplasia. In JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY Vol. 32 (pp. 15). WILEY. -
Conference Items
Year Citation 2024 Mossner, M., Househam, J., Kyle, P., Donato-Brown, D., Woods, S. L., Heide, T., . . . Graham, T. A. (2024). Evolutionary dynamics of phenotypic plasticity in metastatic colorectal cancer. Poster session presented at the meeting of Abstracts of the 6th Joint Meeting with the Royal Society of Medicine, 215th Scientific Meeting of the Pathological Society of Great Britain & Ireland, as published in Journal of Pathology. London, UK: Wiley.
DOI2019 Enomoto, A., Mizutani, Y., Kobayashi, H., Iida, T., Woods, S. L., Worthley, D. L., & Takahashi, M. (2019). Identification of cancer-associated fibroblasts that suppress pancreatic cancer progression. Poster session presented at the meeting of CANCER RESEARCH. Atlanta, GA: AMER ASSOC CANCER RESEARCH.
DOI2017 Woods, S. L., Lannagan, T. R. M., Suzuki, N., Yang, M., Lee, Y. K., Wang, T., . . . Worthley, D. L. (2017). Bridging the GAPP between the laboratory and clinic to prevent gastric adenocarcinoma and proximal polyposis of the stomach (GAPPS). Poster session presented at the meeting of JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY. WILEY. 2017 Suzuki, N., Hata, M., Hikiba, Y., Ihara, S., Kosuke, S., Nakagawa, H., . . . Koike, K. (2017). Metastatic gastric signet ring cell carcinoma organoids generated from normal mouse stomach. Poster session presented at the meeting of JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY. WILEY. 2017 Lannagan, T. R. M., Woods, S. L., Wang, T., Somashekar, R., Yang, M., Ng, J. Q., . . . Worthley, D. L. (2017). Gremlin 1-expressing intestinal reticular stem cells give rise to cancer-associated fibroblasts in a mouse model of colorectal cancer. Poster session presented at the meeting of JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY. WILEY. 2017 Lannagan, T. R. M., Lee, Y. K., Gieniec, K., Wang, T., Somashekar, R., Yang, M., . . . Woods, S. L. (2017). The development of a state-of the art, high-sensitivity stool DNA test to improve screening for serrated polyps and early lesions. Poster session presented at the meeting of JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY. WILEY. -
Preprint
Year Citation 2023 Ying Li, C. M., Tomita, Y., Dhakal, B., Tin, T., Li, R., Wright, J. A., . . . Fenix, K. (2023). Generation and assessment of cytokine-induced killer cells for the treatment of colorectal cancer liver metastases.
DOI2021 Cooper, R. M., Wright, J. A., Ng, J. Q., Goyne, J. M., Suzuki, N., Lee, Y. K., . . . Hasty., J. (2021). Engineered bacteria detect tumor DNA.
DOI
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2011 |
Cure Cancer Australia/Cancer Australia Priority-driven Young Investigator Project Grant |
Sole Chief Investigator |
$90,000 |
2011 |
QIMR-University-Collaborative Seed Funding Grant: Early Career Researcher |
Sole Chief Investigator |
$31,500 |
BIOCHEMISTRY III: Cancer, Stem Cell & Dev Sem 2 2019-22 (3001, 3235, 3520)
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2024 Principal Supervisor Harnessing tumour specific evolution of probiotic bacteria to engineer next-generation bowel cancer treatments Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Julia Leeflang 2024 Principal Supervisor Investigating colorectal cancer associated gut microbiome changes to engineer next generation cancer prevention strategies Master of Philosophy (Medical Science) Master Full Time Miss Sadia Tasnim Hasan 2023 Principal Supervisor Precision medicine for stomach cancer using patient derived organoids Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Francisco Hettige Tharindie Natashiya Silva 2023 Principal Supervisor Personalising treatments for advanced cancer patients receiving intraperitoneal chemotherapy using patient-derived organoids. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Miss Harleen Kaur 2021 Principal Supervisor Probiotics to detect and treat bowel cancer Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Georgette Alexandra Radford -
Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2021 - 2023 Co-Supervisor An Investigation of Biological Processes Underlying Neratinib-induced Gut Injury Master of Philosophy (Medical Science) Master Full Time Mr Phu Minh Triet Nguyen 2021 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Development of a syngeneic, orthotopic microsatellite instability mouse model of colorectal cancer Master of Philosophy (Medical Science) Master Part Time Miss Elaine May Thomas 2020 - 2021 Co-Supervisor The Roles of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts in Colorectal Carcinogenesis Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Mr Hiroki Kobayashi 2017 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Investigating the Contribution of Specific Cancer-Associated Fibroblast Subsets to Colorectal Tumourigenesis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Krystyna Anna Gieniec
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Committee Memberships
Date Role Committee Institution Country 2021 - ongoing Convener GESA Research Workshop Convenor Gastroenterological Society of Australia Australia 2019 - ongoing Member GESA Research and Grants Committee Gastroenterological Society of Australia Australia 2019 - 2020 Chair E/MCR group, Faculty of Health Science University of Adelaide Australia 2019 - 2020 Member SAHMRI Community Advisory Group SAHMRI Australia 2019 - ongoing Member Faculty of Health Science Research Committee The University of Adelaide Australia 2019 - 2019 Member AGITG Trainee Workshop Faculty Organising Committee Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group Australia 2018 - 2020 Member Victorian Cancer Council ECRF Review Panel Member Victorian Cancer Council Australia 2018 - ongoing Member GESA Scientific Program Committee, Research Workshop Gastroenterological Society of Australia Australia 2018 - ongoing Member AGITG Annual Scientific Meeting Translational Research Sub-Committee Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group Australia 2017 - ongoing Member Cure Cancer Australia Research Consultative Committee Cure Cancer Australia Australia 2016 - ongoing Co-Chair SAHMRI E/MCR Working Group SAHMRI Australia -
Memberships
Date Role Membership Country 2018 - ongoing Member NHMRC Grant Review Panel Australia -
Community Engagement
Date Title Engagement Type Institution Country 2016 - ongoing Co-organiser Consumer Bowel Cancer Research Interest Group Scientific Community Engagement SAHMRI/University of Adelaide -
Connect With Me
External Profiles