CAVA: Cancer, Ageing and Vaccine Laboratory (RMIT)
Research - Bundoora, Victoria, Australia
CAVA: Cancer, Ageing and Vaccine Laboratory (RMIT) Employees
CAVA: Cancer, Ageing and Vaccine Laboratory (RMIT) Details
The CAVA Lab, led by Distinguished Professor Magdalena Plebanski uses insights from immunology to address health needs in cancer, vaccination and healthy ageing. 1- We are committed to changing the extremely low survival outcomes from ovarian cancer, by improving early detection and personalising therapy. Led by Dr April Kartikasari, we use epigenetics to identify new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in blood and work with nanoengineers to develop practical point-of-care diagnostic devices to detect them. 2- One of our patented biomarkers is currently being evaluated in a Phase II human trial in 15 hospitals across Australia (SOLACE2). We are also developing alternative treatments, from new immunotherapies to gold-based compounds, with collaborators across RMIT and globally.3- We study the impact of ageing, gender, diet and mood on the immune system. For example, Fulbright-Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Jessica Lockery studies how genetic abnormalities alter the effect of aspirin on bowel cancer development in older people. 4- CAVA seeks to improve COVID-19 and influenza vaccines for vulnerable groups such as older adults or pregnant women. Dr Kirsty Wilson and Dr Jennifer Boer lead this research, profiling immunity with ‘omics' across multiple large scale human clinical trials. 5- We also design our own innovative synthetic nanoparticle vaccines. Vice-Chancellor Fellow Dr David Yi Ju investigates the relationships between protein corona and association of particles with human immune cells, and Dr Kirsty Wilson leads work to enhance immune responses using novel nanoparticle and adjuvant combinations in vaccines.6- We assess the immune response to COVID19 and its immunological side effects (long-COVID19 & post-COVID19) as well as COVID19 vaccines in vulnerable populations.The views expressed here are the CAVA Lab's own and do not reflect the views of RMIT University.
