Development of deep, rapid plasma proteomics for pediatric cohorts

• PhD and Graduate Research Masters
• Honours

Plasma is a biofluid widely used for biomarker discovery. The plasma proteome is a circulating snapshot of the body’s (patho)physiological state, however, potential biomarkers can be ‘buried’ beneath abundant plasma proteins, the top 20 comprising ~99% of plasma proteome.

Plasma proteomics must balance proteome depth with high-throughput capabilities for analysing 100s-1000s patients. Furthermore, any method which fractionates, subsets or depletes cannot compromise quantitation or risk eliminating benefits of increasing proteome depth.

Partnering with collaborators at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, this project will:

1. optimise new methods for improved plasma proteomics
2. validate methods in clinical cohorts.

Opportunities exist to learn advanced proteomics workflows, including hands-on experience with mass spectrometry instrumentation. Further, this project will liaise with clinical collaborators, focusing on pediatric health, pathologies and development.

WEHI Proteomics is a state of the art facility implementing the latest mass spectrometry innovations at the interface between basic and clinical research. We are fully equipped in-house across all aspects of proteomics, including reagents for preparation of diverse samples (recombinant proteins, lysates, plasma, tissues etc.), six mass spectrometry instruments, and infrastructure for database searching and statistical analysis.

Our student research projects are targeted towards transformative proteomic workflows and/or mass spectrometry methods. Students will be assigned research projects with practical outcomes (i.e. new methods), but will be also embedded within a specific biological discipline driven by a named collaborator (i.e. clinical cohorts, animal model, signalling pathway). Student’s research will underpin facility innovation, with access to the full complement of WEHI Proteomics expertise, resources, and network.

This project is co-supervised by Dr Chantal Attard, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.