Professor Jyotsna Batra

Find Jyotsna Batra on

Cancer Genomics Deputy Program Leader

PhD (Savitribai Phule Pune University (Uni, of Pune))

I have more than 10 years of research experience analysing genetic variations for their association with complex human health disorders and dissecting their functional roles with a view to identifying new diagnostic, prognostic and/or therapeutic modalities. During my PhD (awarded 2010, Human Genetics), I published extensively demonstrating positive association of alleles of several genetic variations with complex genetic disorders (27 publications and 2 patent applications at the time of my PhD graduation). In addition, I contributed to large-scale genetic studies including the Indian Genome Variation Consortium, which led to my authorship on an additional 20 publications in esteemed journals, including Science and PNAS. I won three best poster prizes, three travel awards and a Young Investigator Award from the highly prestigious Society of Biochemists of India. This high productivity from my PhD reflects my focused and highly industrious approach to my PhD, and laid the foundation for my future performance and recognition in this exciting and important field. My current research activity reflects an interdisciplinary perspective on understanding the genetic complexity of prostate cancer. Prior to formally obtaining my PhD degree in India in 2010, I was awarded an Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) post-doctoral fellowship at QUT and was recruited to work with Dr Mary-Anne Kedda, who subsequently moved her research interests to Switzerland, which slightly hampered my productivity at the start of my first post-doctoral position at IHBI. This was a defining moment in terms of my research development, as I emerged with enhanced leadership qualities as a result of having to take charge of the research work initiated by Dr Kedda. In 2010, I was awarded two highly prestigious and competitive NHMRC Fellowships - a Peter Doherty Fellowship (accepted) and an NHMRC Overseas Biomedical Fellowship (offer not accepted), which further accelerated my career. Studying genetic variation in the family of Kallikrein protease genes (the KLK3 protein, more commonly known as prostate specific antigen/PSA is the sentinel prostate cancer clinical biomarker,) and their functional role in prostate cancer has been a major focus for my current NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (CDF 2015-18). This project is now being expanded to genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and strategic large candidate gene studies incorporating high-end bioinformatics analysis in order to more broadly define genes that define prostate cancer risk. I have published an additional 79 papers post-PhD (Total 107). They are of high quality and in highly ranked journals in this field and I am the first/last author on 45% of them. This not only speaks to my industrious nature but my highly focused strategic and collaborative approach. A key part of my current activities involves being the Co-Principal Investigator of the Brisbane arm of PRACTICAL (the largest international prostate cancer consortium), which has rewarded me with four Nature Genetics publications (the top ranked journal of the field) and several additional publications in highly regarded journals including Cancer Discovery, Journal of Human Genetics, PloS Genetics, and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. I have established several national and international collaborations to undertake high-impact research. I have been successful in obtaining fellowships (noted above) and funding from various internal, national and international agencies and am now leading my own research group in molecular genetics, supervising 1 research associate, 8 PhD students and 1 post-doctoral fellow at the new state-of-the-art Translational Research Institute (TRI). I have attracted more than $4 M in funding (94% category 1 funding) including fellowships and an ongoing role as CIC on NHMRC grant 1109286 (2016-2018), and currently funded CIA grants from Cancer Council Queensland grant APP1121136 (2016-2017), TRI SPORE grant (2017) and Cancer Australia grants (PdCCRS, APP1086830, 2015-2017; APP1124950, 2016-2017). Importantly, I have provided the financial support for my salary throughout my post-PhD career in addition to supporting the salaries of 4 personnel working with me for the past 5 years.

Additional information

Experience

I have received several awards, prizes and distinctions throughout my career, Evidence of my increasing national and international profile in the genetics of complex disorders is demonstrated by my receipt of the prestigious 2014 Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman award by the NRI Welfare Society of India, This is a very prestigious award where 20 non-resident Indians world-wide are recognised for excellence in their field and enhancing the impact of Indian accomplishments. I have also been a finalist for the QLD Women in Technology (WiT) Rising Star and ASMR Postdoctoral awards. I was an international Semi-finalist for the Trainee Research Award at the prestigious International Congress of Human Genetics. My research excellence was acknowledged by QUT by the awarding of VC Excellence and Performance Awards consecutively in 2015 and 2016 and a fellowship to attend the QUT Accelerated Leadership Pathways program 2017.

#
Year
Description of Award

1
1999
“All Rounder of the Year” award for the year, MDU, India

2
2000
“Best student of the Year” award for the year, MDU, India

3
2000
Winner of the All India Inter-University Yoga Championship Tournament held at G.B. Pant University

4
2000
Haryana State Government fellowship for the year 1997-1998 and 1999-2000 during the BSc degree at Hindu Girls College, MDU, India

5
2002
Awarded post-graduate student fellowship for MSc degree at Kurukshetra University

6
2002
Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE) with a percentile score of 99.47 and obtained the 14th rank at all India level.

7
2002
Qualified all India CSIR-UGC Junior Research Fellowship Examination (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India)

8
2007
Travel Grant by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (Govt of India) and Indian National Academy of science (INSA) to attend AAAI Annual Meeting, San Diego, USA

9
2007
Travel Award for an oral presentation at 4th Indo Australian Conference on Biotechnology, Brisbane, Australia

10
2007
Travel Award by IIS to attend 34th Indian Immunological Society Conference, India

11
2008
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship

12
2010
Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia Travel Grant

13
2011
NHMRC Training Fellowship (Peter Doherty)

14
2011
NHMRC Biomedical Overseas Fellowship (Offer not accepted)

15
2011
The Cancer Council Queensland Travel Award

16
2011
Finalist, QLD Women in Technology (WiT) Rising Star Award

17
2012
C&T Tissue Domain (IHBI, QUT) travel award to attend the prostate cancer consortium (PRACTICAL) meeting in Quebec, Canada

18
2012
IHBI Carla Patterson Early Career Researcher Award for the best publication

19
2013
Runner-up, ASMR post-doctoral award

20
2013
Finalist, QLD Women in Technology (WiT) Rising Star Award

21
2013
IHBI Cancer Program travel award to attend the 5th International Symposium on Kallikrein, Toronto, Sept 2013.

22
2013
Cure Cancer and Cancer Australia Young Investigator PdCCRS Grant

23
2013
John Williams IHBI Cancer Research Travel Fellowship 2013 to travel to India and London in 2014

24
2014
Mahatma Gandhi Parvasi Samman (Overseas Indian Award) 7th May 2014.

25
2014
Cure Cancer and Cancer Australia Young Investigator PdCCRS Grant

26
2015
QUT Vice Chancellor Award for Excellence in Research and Leadership

27
2015
QUT Vice Chancellor Fellowship to attend BIO conference in Philadelphia

28
2015
CASS Travel award to attend the ASHG and PRACTICAL meeting in USA

29
2015
The 10th International Conference on Genomics (ICG-10) Women Travel Award

30
2015
Finalist, Advanced Qld Johnson and Johnson Quick Fire Challenge

31
2016
Cure Cancer and Cancer Australia Young Investigator PdCCRS Grant

32
2016
QUT Vice Chancellor Performance Award for Supervisory Excellence

33
2016
Translational Research Institute SPORE Grant and named on the Board of Honor

34
2017
Nominated for the Prime Minister Frank Fenner Award

35
2017
Runner up, ASMR Senior Researcher Award

My work has been presented on 114 occasions at over 50 scientific meetings, including >30 presentations at international conferences. I have received 26 invited addresses, chaired conference sessions and have been a poster/oral presentation judge on several occasions. All first author presentations were presented by myself. I have won eight best presentation awards as a student or ECR and now my students are continuing the heritage of winning awards at conferences. I have also received seven travel awards (six of which were to attend international conferences) and was an international Semi-finalist for the Trainee Research Award at the prestigious International Congress of Human Genetics.

#
Year
Major National and International Invited Presentations

1
2010
IHBI Early Career Researcher Forum, Brisbane, Australia (17-11-10)

2
2010
International Conference on Stem Cells and Cancer (ICSCC), Pune, India (22-11-10) – Accommodation and local travel provided by the organisers.

3
2012
4th Prostate cancer consortium (PRACTICAL) meeting at Paris, UK Accommodation covered by the organisers.

4
2012
Australian Canadian Research Alliance annual meeting, Port Douglas, Australia All expenses were covered by the Alliance.

5
2012
Informed Friday Seminar conducted by IHBI, QLD (11-06-12)

6
2012
Biomedical Showcase, IHBI, QLD

7
2012
5th Prostate cancer consortium (PRACTICAL) meeting at Quebec, Canada

8
2013
6th Annual meeting of the PRACTICAL consortium, London, UK

9
2013
Australian Canadian Research Alliance annual meeting, Port Douglas, Australia All expenses were covered by the Alliance.

10
2014
2014 Cure Cancer Australia Researcher Symposium All expenses were covered by Cancer Australia

11
2014
7th Annual meeting of the PRACTICAL consortium, London, UK Travel funding supported by IHBI John Williams Cancer Travel Award

12
2015
2015 Cure Cancer Australia Researcher Symposium All expenses covered by Cancer Australia

13
2015
The PacRim Prostate and Breast Cancer Research Alliance, Stevenson, Washington

14
2015
8th Annual meeting of the PRACTICAL consortium, New York Travel funding supported by CASS Travel Award

15
2015
Prostate Cancer Collaborative Research  Alliance, Brisbane

16
2015
Asia-Pacific Prostate Cancer Conference, APCC, Cairns

17
2016
2016 Cure Cancer Australia Researcher Symposium, Sydney All expenses covered by Cancer Australia

18
2016
ComBio2016, Brisbane, 3-7 October

19
2016
Asia-Pacific Prostate Cancer Conference, APCC, Melbourne Registration fee covered by the conference organisers

20
2016
12th Indo-Australian Biotechnology Conference, Bhubaneshwar, India All expenses covered through Conference organisers or IHBI support

21
2016
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) workshop, Brisbane

22
2017
10th Annual meeting of the PRACTICAL consortium, London UK.

23
2017
Bart’s Cancer Research Institute, London, UK

24
2017
2017 Cure Cancer Australia Researcher Symposium, Sydney All expenses covered by Cancer Australia

25
2017
Cancer Council Queensland – Accountant Ball Gala Dinner (13th May)

26
2017
The Australian Society of Diagnostic Genomics (ASDG) Annual meeting, Brisbane

Poster/ oral presentation Awards

1
2006
Best Poster Award, International Symposium on Human Genomics and Public Health and XXXI Annual Conference of ISHG, India

2
2006
Dr. C. Sita Devi Young Scientist Award from the Association of Clinical Biochemists of India in 33rd Annual Conference, India

3
2007
Best Oral presentation Award by Indian Immunological Society Conference, India

4
2007
Best Poster Award by ISHG XXXII Annual Conference of ISHG, India

5
2010
Finalist for INSA Young Scientist Award

6
2011
Semi-finalist for the Trainee Research Award, American Society of Human Genetics for abstract submission to the 12th International Congress of Human Genetics

7
2013
3rd Prize TRI inaugural poster competition

8
2014
Best Poster Award at 10th Indo-Australian Biotechnology conference

9
2014
2nd best oral presentation award at TRI Poster Symposium

10
2014
Finalist, ASMR Postdoctoral Award

11
2015
PA Foundation Young Investigator of the Year Award

12
2015
Best Oral presentation Award to my PhD student Ms Panchadsaram at the TRI Poster Symposium

13
2015
3rd Oral presentation Prize to my PhD student Ms Matin - TRI Poster Symposium

14
2016
Judges Choice Runner Up Best Oral awarded to my PhD student Ms Matin - IHBI Inspires Postgraduate Student Conference

15
2016
Judges Choice Runner Up Science to Business Category awarded to my PhD student Ms Matin - TRI Poster Symposium

16
2016
First Place awarded to my PhD student Ms Matin at the Three Minute Thesis Competition (School Level), and runner up (Faculty Level).

17
2016
People’s choice award to my PhD student Ms Srinivasan - TRI Poster Symposium

18
2016
People’s choice award to my PhD student Ms Subramaniam - PAH Symposium

19
2016
Judges Choice award to my PhD student Ms Subramaniam  - TRI Poster Symposium

Awards

Type
Funding Award
Reference year
2017
Details
Recipient of project grant from TCCQ.
Type
Funding Award
Reference year
2017
Details
Recipient of Cancer Australia PdCCRS project grant
Type
Recipient of a Nationally Competitive Research Fellowship
Reference year
2015
Details
Recipient of NHMRC Career Development Fellowship
Type
Funding Award
Reference year
2013
Details
Recipient of NHMRC Project grant (CIA)
Type
Recipient of a Nationally Competitive Research Fellowship
Reference year
2011
Details
Fellowship Type: NHMRC Principal Research FellowshipProject Title: Kallikrein gene variants in prostate cancer: in-depth association and functional studiesExternal Reference :1013693Years Awarded: 2011-2014Total Funding Awarded: $300,914

Research Projects

Title
Alternative Splicing of Iroquois Homeobox-4 (IRX4) as a Mediator of Androgen Signalling in Aggressive Prostate Cancer
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
2011118
Start year
2023
Keywords
prostate cancer; transcription factor; isoforms; androgen; alternative splicing
Title
Centre for Personalised Analysis of Cancers (CPAC): Clinician Researcher Training at the Translational Interface
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
MRF9100000
Start year
2019
Keywords
Title
Deciphering the biological impact of prostate cancer risk associated PSA coding variant
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
YI 1017
Start year
2018
Keywords
Single nucleotide polymorphisms; Mutation; Glycosylation; Prostate-specific antigen; Prognosis
Title
Functional and mechanistic characterisation of a novel LncRNA at chromosomal locus 5p15 in prostate cancer
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
CA-APP1124950
Start year
2017
Keywords
Prostate Cancer; Rna Interference; Gene Function; Gene Regulation; Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (snp)
Title
Exploring the role of miRSNPs in diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1090505
Start year
2015
Keywords
Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP); Microrna; Prostate Cancer; RNA; Biomarkers
Title
Identification of HNF1B downstream targets as novel cancer therapeutic targets and biomarkers
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
CA-APP1086830
Start year
2015
Keywords
transcription factor; single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP); cancer; prostate cancer; endometrial
Title
miRSNPs as Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers for Prostate Cancer
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
CA-APP1068321
Start year
2014
Keywords
Microrna; Polymorphism; Prostate Cancer; Cancer Genetics; Biomarkers; Gene Polymorphisms
Title
Identification and characterisation of a novel genetic signature at the 5p15 region associated with risk of prostate cancer
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1050742
Start year
2013
Keywords
gene function; polymorphism; prostate cancer; cancer genetics; molecular genetics
Title
In-depth association and functional studies assessing the role of novel single nucleotide polymorphisms in PSA and other Kallikrein genes in prostate cancer
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1009458
Start year
2011
Keywords
Prostate Cancer; Kalilikrein; SNP; PSA
Title
Kallikrein Gene Variants In Prostate Cancer: In-depth Association and Functional Studies
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
1013693
Start year
2011
Keywords
Prostate Cancer; Kallikreins; Polymorphism; Gene Polymorphisms; Cancer Biology

Current Supervisions

Completed Supervisions (Doctorate)

Completed Supervisions (Masters by Research)