Project title
Epithelial-mesenchymal Plasticity in Circulating Tumour Cells From Patients With Metastatic Cancers and PDX Models
Supervisory Team
Principal Supervisor: Professor Erik Thompson
Associate Supervisor: Dr Shivashankar Hiriyur Nagaraj, Associate Professor Elizabeth Williams
Sara Hassan completed her Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Biotechnology from Forman Christian College, Pakistan. During her study she was selected as the Cultural Ambassador (CA) of Pakistan to USA. While serving as the CA in USA, she studied two semesters at Augustana University, SD. She graduated with the prestigious Outstanding Student Award. In 2017, she started her PhD at Queensland University of Technology in the field of Liquid Biopsy. The study uses patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models and patient blood samples to investigate epithelial mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) shed into the blood stream of people suffering from cancer. During her PhD degree, she participated in numerous international conferences and won research awards at the Thomas Ashworth CTC & Liquid Biopsy Symposium 2020 and Princess Alexandria Hospital (PAH) Health Symposium 2021.