Postgraduate Studies Projects

Supervisors: Dr. Mustafa Ayhan and Prof. Greg Rice
Email: mustafa.ayhan@bakeridi.edu.au
Phone: 8532 1181

Identification of Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Disease

Human biofluids such as blood and urine are a treasure trove of potential diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic biomarkers for many human illnesses and diseases. Being able to measure disease-specific changes in protein expression may lead to early detection of life threatening cardiovascular diseases. On one hand, the circulatory system is a lifeline for the survival of every functioning cell in the human body and on the other, a waste disposal portal for the same cells. Mining and characterizing the protein content of blood for molecules (proteins, peptides, metabolites and microRNA) that may be strong predictors of disease risk, onset and progression is important for early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. Evidence is strengthening for the association of cardiovascular disease and challenges during pregnancy and neonatal life.

The projects on offer are based on comparative protein analysis of biofluids from healthy subjects (controls) and patients. The focus is cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction and heart failure) and additionally, it's link to challenges during pregnancy. There are several projects on offer for prospective Honours and PhD students interested in ‘Cardiovascular and Pregnancy Proteomics' research.

After careful sample preparation and fractionation, MALDI and ESI mass spectrometry is used to generate protein/peptide profiles, which are compared using pattern matching programs and algorithms. By applying various multivariate statistical models to the data, potential candidates involved in disease can be observed and their identity determined. Proteins detected at elevated or reduced levels (compared to controls) are identified by mass spectrometric peptide sequencing and interrogation of databases. The relevance of the identified proteins/peptides to cardiovascular disease is established by literature searching. Reproducibility and validation studies then follow for candidate proteins.

To reduce the enormous complexity of proteins in biofluids, general sample processing workflows involve: (1) removal of high abundance proteins using specific and unspecific methods and (2) pre-fractionation (affinity techniques) prior to mass spectrometric protein profiling. The Proteomics and Translational Proteomics laboratories are comprised of high performance MALDI and ESI (LC-MS) mass spectrometers and HPLC systems (capillary and analytical).