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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Trials in treating STIs, vaccines and lipid lowering medications
Since joining Paratus Clinical Research in 2022, Dr Pi Lip Seet has served as both Principal Investigator and Sub-Investigator across Phase I–IV industry-sponsored clinical trials. His research experience spans vaccines, immunology, cardiovascular and endocrine disease, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, pain management, sleep medicine and adult psychiatry. He has been involved in multiple vaccine development programs, including RSV, influenza, COVID-19, herpes zoster and pneumococcal studies.
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Identification & characterisation of molecular drivers of therapeutic resistance
Professor Pieter Eichhorn is an internationally experienced cancer biologist and research leader whose career has been defined by high-impact contributions at the interface of functional genomics, translational oncology, and research infrastructure strategy.
He completed his PhD at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, contributing to the cloning of the gene associated with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, before undertaking postdoctoral training at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in the laboratory of René Bernards. There, he performed pioneering functional genetic screens that identified key regulators of oncogenesis and therapy resistance, including critical roles for the PI3K signalling pathway in resistance to targeted breast cancer therapies.
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Vision impairment in children and the impact on children and their families
Dr Sue Silveira holds a conjoint academic position with Macquarie University and is the Course Director for their Master of Disability Studies, which is administered and delivered by NextSense Institute in affiliation with the University. She teaches in the areas of vision impairment and disability, and aims to share her knowledge while learning from others, especially people who are blind or have low vision and their families.
