Position: Senior Research Officer
Group: Rheumatology Research Group
Email: [email protected]
UoA: Chandra Kirana
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Chandra is a biochemist whose research has investigated various aspects of colorectal cancer. Her PhD thesis explored the use of biologically active compounds from members of the Zingiberaceae plant family, which includes ginger and turmeric, in the prevention of colorectal cancer.
She has experience in isolating and identifying bio-active compounds from medicinal plants using chromatographic, mass spectrometric techniques and NMR and using small animal models to assess efficacy of the active compounds including AOM-induced colon cancer and DSS-induced inflammatory bowel disease model study. She also has worked with primary tissue and cell culture systems to conduct various assays including proliferation, apoptosis and migration assays. Her research interests focus on biomarkers for bowel cancer and understanding bowel cancer liver metastasis leading to cancer treatment. Her work equipped her with a large number of tissue samples from patients complete with clinical parameters including tumour characteristics and patient’s 5 years follow up. She is an expert in immunohistochemistry and the use of tissue microarrays for immunohistochemistry.
Following the completion of her PhD Chandra undertook a Postdoctoral Fellowship at CSIRO Human Nutrition in Adelaide and Wakefield Biomedical Research Institute in Wellington, New Zealand. Chandra began working for the Surgical Science Research Group at the Basil Hetzel Institute in September 2014. In 2020 she began working with Associate Professor Maureen Rischmueller on Sjögren’s Syndrome Projects.
At least once a year Chandra presents the results of her research to staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students in some Indonesian universities and to the Indonesian community in Adelaide.
Chandra also works closely with Ms Julie Marker, founder of Cancer Voices SA.
Chandra’s projects involve consenting patients.
