PhD project in Non-invasive prenatal testing using extracellular vesicle derived fetal DNA

A scholarship ($28,854 per year for up to 3.5 years with a top-up of $5,000 per year) is available for a cross-disciplinary PhD project at the University of South Australia.  

Location. You will be based in the University of South Australia’s Future Industries Institute.

How to apply. Please e-mail your expression of interest to Dr Marnie Winter (marnie.winter @ unisa.edu.au) , including a CV and the names and contact information of three referees.

Project description: In this PhD research project, you will investigate the diagnostic significance of placental extracellular vesicles (EVs) towards the development of more comprehensive and reliable non-invasive prenatal testing. You will establish new cutting-edge methodologies for the amplification and sequencing of the DNA cargo in placental EVs, and implement advanced data analytics. Informed by our  partner Monash IVF/Repromed, this PhD project ultimately aims to develop an automated technology compatible with clinical implementation. Successful outcomes would enable more reliable non-invasive prenatal testing for a greater range of diseases allowing earlier interventions, and importantly provide reassurance to the large majority of women with an unaffected pregnancy.

Supervisory Team

Dr Marnie Winter – Principal Supervisor

Professor Benjamin Thierry -Co-Supervisor

Associate Professor Deidre Zander Fox – Industry End-User Advisor (Monash-IVF)