Amanda Smith

Biography

I am currently a second year Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, The University of Queensland. I undertook this position in July 2013 after submitting my thesis for a PhD in medical biochemistry in June 2013. As a PhD student, my interests centered on understanding the molecular changes involved in cancer progression, specifically, acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and chemotherapy resistance. By utilising a wide range of proteomic and molecular techniques, including immunoprecipitation, mass spectrometry, flow cytometry and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in addition to processing of primary AML patient bone marrow and mononuclear cells, I have recently contributed a significant portion of work to a publication in the international journal, Cancer Research. My PhD work focused on the role of PP2A inhibition by receptor tyrosine kinases as drivers of disease, and the potential to target PP2A as a novel therapy. Two manuscripts reporting this work, for which I am first author, have been written and will be submitted in the near future. I also have two second author publications (Cancer Res. 2010 Jul 1;70(13):5438-47; Int J Nanomed. 2013;8:4705) and one first author book chapter (Basic Mechanisms of Leukaemogenesis Koschmieder, S. and Utz, K. (Ed) 2011). Recently, I published the first research publication arising from work during my postdoctoral research appointment under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Moore (Leuk Res. 2015 Apr;39(4):435-44). Furthermore, I have presented my research at numerous national conferences, and an international conference. In addition to research, I have tutored Bachelor of Biomedical Science students, both as part of their coursework and privately. I am currently a secondary supervisor for one final year PhD student. I am dedicated to a research career with a strong focus on clinical research and the development of new therapies for leukaemia patients. My goal is to secure competitive grant funding and build my own research program within the next 5-10 years.

Research Interest

Leukaemia/Paediatric leukaemia/Oncology/Proteomics