Why study at Centenary?
Be trained by our world-class medical researchers to make discoveries that have a positive impact on the health and welfare of our community.
Student Benefits
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Inclusion and Gender Equity Program
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Parental Leave & Support
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Grant Application Support
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Visiting Speaker Initiative
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Weekly Seminars & Lunches
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Unconscious Bias Training
Student Opportunities
Embrace the independence to pursue your desire of discovery. With state-of-the-art facilities, and an internationally renowned reputation, the Centenary Institute offers you the support and means to realise your dreams through pioneering breakthroughs and advancing the fight to find a cure. The Centenary Institute has supported PhD candidates that have gone one to pursue careers in academia, industry, and policy with a positive impact on health and welfare of society. For a list of projects and scholarships for interested applicants, see below.
Progress your research career by taking the next step with a Masters education through the Centenary Institute. With state-of-the-art equipment, and an internal support system consisting of world-renowned scientists, Centenary Institute can be the foundation for your promising career. Our Masters program is designed as a perfect gateway to your PhD, and enables you to further your skills on cutting technologies, while working side by side with researchers at the top of their field. Whatever you desire for your future in science, Centenary can empower you to achieve your goal and help you to where you want to be. For a list of projects and scholarships for interested applicants, see below.
Take your first step into a career in medical research with Centenary. Housing state-of-the-art facilities, you will hone new skills and learn the latest techniques from internationally renowned researchers whilst building the foundations for a future that could see you make breakthroughs that save lives. For a list of projects and scholarships for interested applicants, see below.
PhD, Honours and Masters Student Opportunities
Additional opportunities
Project type: Honours
Theme: Pathology
Supervisors: Prof. Mark Gorrell & Dr. Bobby Boumelhem
Project details: Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease is poised to become one of the biggest contributors to liver transplants in the next decade. Chronic lipid accumulation activates fibrotic pathways leading to fibrosis. Liver fibrosis is a crucial predictor of progression towards cirrhosis and cancer, so its assessment is critical in determining treatment eligibility and in risk-stratification. Our lab has a keen interest in the Dipeptidyl Peptidase family of enzymes which includes fibroblast activated protein. A suitable project will be designed around the candidate student’s interests, skills and aspirations, with a focus on the potential of FAP as a biomarker for liver disease progression.
Gorrell MD. Dipeptidyl peptidase IV and related enzymes in cell biology and liver disorders. Clin Sci (Lond) 2005 April; 108 (4): 277–292. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/CS20040302
Keane FM, Yao TW, Seelk S, Gall MG, Chowdhury S, Poplawski SE, Lai JH, Li Y, Wu W, Farrell P, Vieira de Ribeiro AJ, Osborne B, Yu DM, Seth D, Rahman K, Haber P, Topaloglu AK, Wang C, Thomson S, Hennessy A, Prins J, Twigg SM, McLennan SV, McCaughan GW, Bachovchin WW, Gorrell MD.
Quantitation of fibroblast activation protein (FAP)-specific protease activity in mouse, baboon and human fluids and organs. FEBS Open Bio. 2013 Dec 8;4:43-54. doi: 10.1016/j.fob.2013.12.001. PMID: 24371721; PMCID: PMC3871272.
Technologies: Cell culture/transfection; enzymatic assays; immunohistochemistry; flow cytometry; qPCR
Applications Close: December 15, 2024
Enquiries and to apply email: education@centenary.org.au
Project type: Honours
Theme: Pathology
Supervisors: Prof. Mark Gorrell & Dr. Bobby Boumelhem
Project details: Primary liver cancer is the 3rd leading cause of cancer related deaths. We are addressing the urgent need to develop a greater understanding of pathogenesis for improved therapeutics. The pathogenesis of chronic liver injury and cancer is driven by chronic cell death and proliferation and inflammation. Cirrhosis generally precedes cancer in the liver. Proteases are important in cancer pathogenesis and suit drug development. We primarily study fibroblast activation protein (FAP) and DPP9 as proteases associated with cancer pathogenesis. We will discuss with each student their interests, skills and aspirations in order to design a suitable project within this field.
Huang JC, Emran AA, Endaya JM, McCaughan GW, Gorrell MD, Zhang HE. DPP9: Comprehensive In Silico Analyses of Loss of Function Gene Variants and Associated Gene Expression Signatures in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Apr 1;13(7):1637. doi: 10.3390/cancers13071637. PMID: 33915844; PMCID: PMC8037973.
Harapas CR, Robinson KS, Lay K, Wong J, Moreno Traspas R, Nabavizadeh N, Rass-Rothschild A, Boisson B, Drutman SB, Laohamonthonkul P, Bonner D, Xiong JR, Gorrell MD, Davidson S, Yu CH, Fleming MD, Gudera J, Stein J, Ben-Harosh M, Groopman E, Shimamura A, Tamary H, Kayserili H, Hatipoğlu N, Casanova JL, Bernstein JA, Zhong FL, Masters SL, Reversade B. DPP9 deficiency: An inflammasomopathy that can be rescued by lowering NLRP1/IL-1 signaling. Sci Immunol. 2022 Sep
16;7(75):eabi4611. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abi4611. Epub 2022 Sep 16. PMID: 36112693; PMCID: PMC9844213.
Technologies: Mouse genetics, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, qPCR, immunoblotting, protease assays, ELISA and confocal microscopy.
Applications Close: December 15, 2024
Enquiries and to apply email: education@centenary.org.au
“I was so honoured to be taken on board to start my research career at Centenary. Working in this space allows me to develop professionally, hopefully publish in the future, and lay the foundations for the rest of my career”
“I’m really thankful that Centenary has given me this opportunity to start the next stage of my scientific career in Ghent, Belgium. I do really hope I’ll be back to research here again”.
Scholarships
Biomedical AI PhD Awards
The purpose of these top-up scholarships is to support exceptional PhD students interested in applying cutting-edge computational and directed evolution approaches to produce novel therapeutics. Scholarships are available for PhD projects focused on cardiovascular disease or cancer. An annual top-up stipend of $20,000 (up to three years) will be offered to scholars who receive a Research Training Program (RTP, or equivalent) scholarship. For more information and to apply please contact biomedicalAI@
centenary.org.au
Please refer to the USYD website: https://www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships/
Please refer to the UTS website: https://www.uts.edu.au/study/scholarships
Get in touch
For any enquiries on our student opportunities, scholarship program or study opportunities at Centenary, please email through the button below to submit your enquiry. We will review your enquiry and get back to you as soon as possible.
FAQs
Applications for domestic students are due in May and October of each year.
For international students, the submissions are due in September and December of each year.
We would first recommend you make contact with a supervisor at Centenary. Getting a relevant visa can take some time so it is important to factor this into your application timeline. We suggest submitting a completed application six months before you want to commence and if you’re successful, you can then apply for your visa.