Description
Heart valve stenosis is a disease in which the heart valves thicken, preventing blood from flowing properly through the heart. Current animal models to study this disease have severe limitations —mouse models do not reliably develop stenosis, while sheep and pig models are expensive to house and maintain.
Zebrafish share 70% of its genes with humans. Our lab has developed a method that causes zebrafish to grow thick heart valves during embryonic development. This project will determine whether these fish maintain thick valves in adulthood and develop symptoms characteristic of human valve stenosis.
Main techniques: Molecular biology, confocal imaging, ultrasound imaging.
How to Apply
We are seeking a motivated honours, Master's, or PhD candidate who is passionate about contributing to scientific knowledge and improving human health.
If you are interested in this project, please send your CV, Cover Letter, and full academic transcripts to renee.chow@monash.edu.
PhD candidates are required to secure external funding. Subject to the rules of the funding body, our lab will supply PhD students with an additional $5000/year top-up scholarship.
For more information about the lab: https://armi.org.au/our-groups/chow-group/
Essential criteria:
Minimum entry requirements can be found here: https://www.monash.edu/admissions/entry-requirements/minimum
Keywords
heart, cardiac valve disease, zebrafish, cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, disease models
School
Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI)
Available options
PhD/Doctorate
Masters by research
Honours
BMedSc(Hons)
Time commitment
Full-time
Top-up scholarship funding available
Yes
Year 1:
$5000
Year 2:
$5000
Year 3:
$5000
Physical location
15 Innovation Walk
Research webpage