RESEARCHER PROFILE
Dr Mark Adams, Senior Research Fellow
School of Biomedical Sciences & Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health
Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
Dr. Mark Adams is a researcher at Queensland University of Technology, working within the School of Biomedical Sciences and Faculty of Health, as well as the Centre of Genomics and Personalised Health. He has been with the university for the past decade, and his main research focus is on lung cancers. Dr. Adams completed his undergraduate studies at the Queensland University of Technology and then went on to earn his PhD based at the Mater Research Institute at the Mater hospital. His PhD focused on prostate cancer and specifically looked at developing drugs that would stop the metastasis of prostate cancer towards the bone.
After completing his PhD, Dr. Adams returned to Queensland University of Technology to commence a postdoctoral fellowship. During his fellowship, he looked at lung cancer and how our genomes are maintained through a process called DNA repair. Dr. Adams has been successful in attracting funding to support his salary through fellowship support from foundations such as Cure Cancer, National Health and Medical Research Council, and the Queensland government.
Dr. Adams’ research focus is on lung cancer, which is the deadliest of all cancers worldwide. He is working towards developing personalised approaches to pinpoint a therapy that is going to be most effective for the person with that disease. Dr. Adams’ research is focusing on chemotherapy and targeted therapy, and he is trying to identify upfront which of those tumours are likely to be resistant to the therapy. He then identifies strategies that will resensitize or increase the sensitivity of the tumour to the standard of care that is targeted therapy or chemotherapy.
Dr. Adams’ research is driven by his fascination with trying to understand how something works and, in particular, understanding cells and the molecular mechanisms underpinning how those cells work. He has always been interested in biology and was drawn to the problem of cancer and what’s going on in those tumour cells that promote tumorigenesis.
Dr. Adams has a young family with three kids, all in primary school. He enjoys downhill mountain biking in the forest and playing futsal on Monday nights.
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Understanding the experience of pain for novel brain-based treatments
Associate Professor Tasha Stanton leads the Persistent Pain Research Group at SAHMRI. She is also co-Director of IIMPACT in Health at the University of South Australia, Adelaide. She is a clinical pain neuroscientist, with original training as a physiotherapist, and her research focusses on pain – why do we have it and why doesn’t it go away?
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Forensic psychiatry research in the setting of the justice system
Prof Kimberlie Dean is Head of the Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health at UNSW. She was appointed to the inaugural Chair in Forensic Mental Health at UNSW in 2011, a joint appointment with Justice Health NSW. She also holds a Clinical Academic appointment as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist with Justice Health NSW. She is Academic Program Director for the Masters Forensic Mental Health at UNSW.
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CASE STUDY Large scale genetic study finds link between Irritable Bowel Syndrome & cardiovascular system
Research published April 2024 in the journal Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology sheds light on disease mechanisms common to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD).
