Studying at NCARD means access to state-of-the-art facilities, the best available technology, and world-leading health and medical research specialists.
Why Study With Us?
Our Mentors
When you join NCARD, you are joining a team of outstanding clinicians and scientists. NCARD is the top mesothelioma research group in the world, and our people have expertise in a variety of areas related to asbestos disease and cancer.
We have a long history of advising and training students, and our mentors will give you the support you need to develop your research skills. The experience you gain as a student here in analysis, organisation, communication and leadership will prepare you for any career you choose, and boost your employability.
Watch Premier’s Science Award 2024 Student Scientist of the Year Winner and NCARD PhD graduate Nicola Principe’s interview.
Our Culture
We take pride in our outstanding student culture. Our postgraduate group usually consists of around ten students, each at different stages in their academic journey. It is a fantastic opportunity to learn and receive support from a diverse and tight-knit peer group with a strong social aspect.
In addition, we have many avenues for students to engage in initiatives outside research, such as our Kindness in Science team, or to work alongside consumers and advocacy groups.
Lastly, there are rewards for high achievers, such as bonuses for publications – see our available Scholarships for more detail.
Our Facilities
NCARD is located in the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research – a world-class facility containing the best available equipment that was constructed in 2014.
Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research is part of the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Medical Centre, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. QEII fosters an environment of collaborative opportunity by hosting over 40 health-related organisations, including hospitals, research centres and universities, in one precinct. Notable entities operating in the QEII space include Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and our primary partner university, the University of Western Australia.
Our adjacency with healthcare facilities allows our students to observe clinics to understand the experiences of patients, their families and carers, and the clinicians who manage their care.
Contribute to Research
On average, two people in Australia are diagnosed with mesothelioma every day. This illness is currently incurable, and the five-year survival rate is only 6%. However, advancements made at NCARD have meant that more people diagnosed with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases live longer with better quality-of-life.
Previous students have said one of the best aspects of training at NCARD is knowing they are making a genuine contribution to asbestos disease research. The work students do at NCARD helps us reach our goal of improving the lives of people affected by asbestos-related disease.
How To Join Us
At NCARD we’re always looking to recruit outstanding students into our research programs. Our research projects span areas such as immunology, genetics, bioinformatics and medical physics. For 5 reasons to study with NCARD, read our Postgraduate Opportunities brochure.
Many of our alumni have pursued successful and fulfilling careers in research academia, medicine, industry and allied health.
To express your interest in any of our research projects please contact us via ncard-research@uwa.edu.au or through our Contact Us page. We will be happy to provide you with more information or direct your enquiry to the relevant research team member.
International students may check their eligibility to study in Australia by clicking here, or by contacting the University of Western Australia’s International Students Office.
Research Projects Available
Supervisors: Dr Alistair Cook, Prof Martin Ebert
Cancer immunotherapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has revolutionised the field of oncology in the last 5-10 years. However, whilst ICI drugs can produce remarkable responses, they are still only effective for a minority of people. Recent preclinical work in our lab, focussing on mesothelioma, has shown that certain types of radiotherapy can increase likelihood of successful ICI therapy through functional remodelling of tumour blood vessels – boosting the cure rate from around 20% to almost 100%. We are looking for an honours student to join our team with the aim of broadening our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for these improvements. We wish to examine the presence or absence of a range of immune cell types and their activational status, to identify characteristics of tumours that have the best chance of response to this type of therapy – with the aim of carrying out a clinical trial in the near future. This project will use techniques such as flow cytometry, immunofluorescent tissue staining and RNA sequencing.
Open to:
- Honours
Supervisors: Dr Jonathan Chee, Dr Kofi Stevens
Mesothelioma is an incurable cancer. While new therapies that increase anti-cancer immune responses have shown promise, most patients do not benefit from immunotherapy.
Metals such as copper accumulate in mesothelioma, are essential for tumour growth and help cancers evade the immune response. Using copper-binding drugs, we aim to reduce the copper available to the cancer, and understand how it improves the function of anti-cancer immune cells. We will investigate the changes in gene and protein expression of tumour cells in response to copper and copper chelation therapy. Additionally we will characterise the effect of treatments on immune cell (T cells and macrophages) activity in-vitro. We will assess T cell mediated killing of tumour cells using in-vitro coculture assays in the presence of copper chelation therapies. Finally, we will determine the activity of copper chelation therapies in-vivo, and their effect on the tumour microenvironment.
As these copper-binders are clinically approved for use in other diseases, they are novel drugs that can be repurposed to improve immunotherapies for patients with mesothelioma.
Open to:
- Honours
- PhD
Supervisors: Prof Jenette Creaney, Dr Xiao Zhong
Neoantigens are unique molecules on the surface of cancer cells that arise from mutations in the cancer’s DNA. Identifying neoantigens is a two-step process. First, cancer-specific mutations are identified by comparing the tumour DNA sequence with the matched normal germline. Subsequently, a combination of prediction algorithms and RNA sequence data are used to assess the immunogenicity of these mutations. Predicting neoantigens computationally often requires multiple algorithms and substantial computational resources. A sophisticated workflow integrating state-of-the-art of algorithms or tools including those developed in house are essential for accurate prediction of neoantigens from sequencing data. We aim to optimise and automate a scalable Nextflow bioinformatic pipeline for accurate neoantigen detection. We will achieve this by leveraging available datasets and prediction algorithms, and we will design and implement a scalable Nextflow pipeline to automate neoantigen prediction. The pipeline performance will be optimised for efficient execution on high-performance computing resources. Finally, a user-friendly interface for the pipeline and output visualisation with be developed.
Open to:
- Honours
- Masters
Supervisors: Prof Jenette Creaney, Dr Xiao Zhong
Gene fusions are prevalent cancer drivers across various cancer types. Precise identification of fusion transcripts is crucial for both cancer research and clinical treatment. While long-read sequencing technology offers immense potential for accurate detection of fusion genes and transcripts, the computational landscape for analyzing such data remains limited. JAFFAL, a commonly used tool in this domain, suffers from a significant drawback: its reliance on well-annotated genes hinders its ability to discover novel fusions, which are frequently observed in cancer tissues. Although a few newer tools have emerged, they lack peer review, underscoring the urgent need for a more robust computational solution. We aim to develop a novel computational tool capable of swiftly and accurately identifying gene fusions from sequencing data. We will do this by leveraging available datasets and designing and implementing a bioinformatic fusion detection tool using Julia, Python, or R languages. There is the opportunity to validate findings in laboratory experiments.
References:
Davidson, Nadia M., et al. “JAFFAL: detecting fusion genes with long-read transcriptome sequencing.” Genome biology 23.1 (2022): 10.
Wang, Wenjia, et al. “IFDlong: an isoform and fusion detector for accurate annotation and quantification of long-read RNA-seq data.” bioRxiv (2024).
Qin, Qian, et al. “CTAT-LR-fusion: accurate fusion transcript identification from long and short read isoform sequencing at bulk or single cell resolution.” BioRxiv (2024).
Open to:
- Honours
- Masters
Scholarships Available
At NCARD, we strongly encourage potential students to obtain scholarships before starting their postgraduate training.
The UWA scholarship search has the full range of scholarships offered by the University.
Domestic students may be eligible for the Research Training Program grants offered by the Australian government.
International students may use the StudyAustralia search tool to find available scholarships.
Masters, Medical Fellowship and PhD
NCARD offers top-up scholarships for high-performing students.
The Douglas Peter Swift Top-Up Scholarship commemorates Douglas Swift, who lived in Wittenoom and died from mesothelioma at the age of 53. His family is generously offering this scholarship to an NCARD-supervised PhD student who has mesothelioma as a dominant theme of their research.
Eligibility
- Must be a PhD student
- Must have an NCARD researcher as their primary supervisor
- Must have mesothelioma as a dominant research theme
- Already holds a living allowance scholarship
- Does not hold an existing top-up scholarship
- Must have completed less than two years FTE of their PhD
- Can be full-time or part-time; however, part-time students must be part-time due to caring responsibilities or medical conditions, must possess a part-time scholarship, and may be working no more than 8 hours a week in paid employment.
More information and application details can be found HERE.
We offer top-up bonuses to PhD students who publish papers related to their work while at NCARD, as an incentive for students to reach publishing milestones in support of their training.
These are:
| Milestone | Top-Up |
| First author review accepted within first year | $2,500 (once only) |
| First author data paper accepted | $2,500 per publication (to max. 4 publications) |
| Additional reviews / data papers | No additional payment |
Top-ups are capped at $10,000 / year / student, including funds received from sources other than NCARD. Top-ups cease after 3.5 years of FTE study.
Eligibility
- Students must be enrolled through UWA, studying full time and in receipt of a scholarship.
- Students must not be working part-time in a professional capacity.
- First author data papers must be the student’s PhD work.
- Reviews and data papers must include NCARD in the student’s affiliations.
Undergraduate and Honours
We currently offer vacation scholarships for undergraduate students wishing to work on a project over the summer. These projects can be between 4-10 weeks long, and serve as short-term opportunities for students to train with NCARD.
Interested students are encouraged to contact us to determine whether there is a suitable project available. After a project has been agreed upon, the student should then apply for a Cancer Council WA (CCWA) Vacation Scholarship with the support of their supervisor. NCARD has seen significant success with this scheme in the past.
For undergraduate students who are not funded by a scholarship or other external funding source, NCARD offers short-term scholarships up to $3000 each year.
Eligibility
- Currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree.
- Student under the primary supervision of NCARD for the project (i.e. >50% of the supervision load lies with NCARD affiliated supervisors).
- Mesothelioma is the dominant theme of research (including research into risk identification, the biology and development of disease, treatment, improving care and quality of life of patients).
- Student does not hold an existing summer or project-based scholarship.
Volunteering and Internships
Volunteering and internships can be arranged for students who are interested in the work we do at NCARD. Contact us at ncard-research@uwa.edu.au to discuss available opportunities.