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Jessica Duarte.jpg

Dr Jessica Duarte

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

More about Dr Jessica Duarte

What I love most about being a scientist is the continuous acquisition of new knowledge and skills, which makes for a constantly stimulating work environment.

I obtained my PhD in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 2015, during which I focused on the development of a novel protein microarray-based platform that mainly used Cancer-Testis antigens. This platform was used to assess B cell responses to cancer therapeutics across several cancers, and as a means of potentially identifying novel predictive, prognostic and/or disease progression biomarkers which might shed light on the interplay between the immune system and tumour responses to treatment. My expertise in seromics brings a unique skill set to the ONJCRI's immune monitoring capabilities in clinical trial settings.

I am currently investigating the potential translational uses of this platform in clinical settings as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. I am currently working on research projects that are aiming towards early detection of melanoma onset and recurrence, prediction of immunotherapy benefit and/or toxicity, and understanding the role of B cells in anti-tumour immunity.

Education

PhD, Medical Biochemistry, Division of Medical Biochemistry, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Bachelor of Science (Honours), Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Algarve, Portugal

Current Appointments 

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tumour Immunology Laboratory

Honorary Research Fellow, School of Cancer Medicine, La Trobe University

Achievements

Cancer Australia Priority-driven Cancer Research Scheme funded by Cure Cancer Australia, 2019

La Trobe University Research Focus Areas Understanding Diseases – Collaboration ready Scheme, 2018

Austin Medical Research Foundation Grant-in-aid of Medical Research, 2018

Tour de Cure Scott Canner Young Researcher Grant, 2017-2018

Harold Mitchell Postdoctoral Travel Fellowship, 2016

Recent Publications

  1. da Gama Duarte J, et al. B Cells and Antibody Production in Melanoma.  Mammalian Genome.  29:790-805. 2018
  2. da Gama Duarte J, et al. Autoantibodies May Predict Immune-Related Toxicity: Results from a Phase I Study of Intralesional Bacillus Calmette-Guerin followed by Ipilimumab in Patients with Advanced Metastatic Melanoma.  Frontiers in Immunology.  9:1-9. 2018
  3. da Gama Duarte J, et al. PMA: Protein Microarray Analyser, a user-friendly tool for data processing and normalization.  BMC Research Notes.  11:1-6. 2018
  4. da Gama Duarte J, et al. The good, the (not so) bad and the ugly of immune homeostasis in melanoma.  Immunology and Cell Biology.  96:497-506. 2018
  5. da Gama Duarte J & Blackburn JM. Advances in the development of human protein microarrays.  Expert Review of Proteomics.  14:627-641. 2017 

Email: jessica.duarte@onjcri.org.au

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