Dr Hannah O'Farrell

    Post Doc Fellow - Laboratory

    Dr Hannah O’Farrell is an early career researcher working as a post-doctoral scientist employed by the Menzies School of Health Research. Awarded her PhD in November 2021, she investigated the diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic potential of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in COPD and lung cancer in adults. Hannah was the first to demonstrate the biomarker potential of plasma EV miRNAs in discriminating patients with lung cancer from healthy smokers, healthy controls and patients with COPD, as well as compare the toxicity of e-cigarettes to tobacco cigarettes in airway epithelium from patients with COPD. Hannah has contributed to the field of molecular biomarkers by utilising cutting-edge technologies in respiratory disease (the use of EVs and the bioactive cargo they contain) in order to better understand the links between microbiota and lung disease initiation, as well as identify novel disease biomarkers.

    As an early career researcher with a unique skill-set, combining laboratory molecular biology skills and linked clinical work, Hannah is now applying her technological expertise to paediatric lung disease.

    Top 5 Publications

    1. O’FARRELL HE, Bowman RV, Fong KM, Yang IA. Plasma extracellular vesicle miRNAs can identify lung cancer, current smoking status and stable COPD. Int J Mol Sci 2021;22:5803.
    2. O’FARRELL HE, Brown R, Brown Z, Miljevic B, Ristovski ZD, Bowman RV, Fong KM, Vaughan A, Yang IA. E-cigarettes induce toxicity comparable to tobacco cigarettes in airway epithelium from patients with COPD. Toxicol in Vitro. 2021. 75:105204. [FWCI 1.82]
    3. O’Farrell H, Kok H, Goel S, Chang A, Yerkovich S. Endotypes of Paediatric Cough—Do They Exist and Finding New Techniques to Improve Clinical Outcomes. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2024;13:756.
    4. Parris, BA., O’FARRELL HE, Fong, KM, Yang IA. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer: Common pathways for pathogenesis. J Thorac Dis 2019; 11(Suppl 17), S2155-S2172. [FWCI 2.45]
    5. Chang AB, Irwin RS, O’FARRELL HE … Marchant JM. Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome: Why Its Use is Inappropriate in Children. J. Clin. Med. 2023, 12(15), 4879.