Associate Professor Michelle Hill
Head of Precision and Systems Biomedicine Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
A/Professor Hill’s research began a new chapter at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in April, 2017. As head of the Precision and Systems Biomedicine Laboratory, she aims to improve health outcomes by harnessing the power of omics and computational systems biology, and translating the findings to better clinical tests.
Her team is currently working to develop blood tests for early cancer detection, and to understand why obesity contributes to diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration, in order to develop prevention strategies.
Associate Professor Hill obtained her PhD at the University of Queensland then under took postdoctoral work in Switzerland, Ireland, and back at University of Queensland. Her research training focussed on various aspects of cell signalling and membrane microdomain function using techniques in biochemistry, cell biology and subcellular proteomics.
With a passion for translational research, she established the Cancer Proteomics Group at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute on the Princess Alexandra Hospital campus, Brisbane, Australia in 2009. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, the group has successfully developed a laboratory test for amyloidosis subtyping, and discovered serum biomarkers for oesophageal cancer.
Project: Discovery of New Blood Protein Biomarkers for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer