CureCell’s 2022 Honours scholarship recipient

Introducing Lizamarie Goonetilleke, one of CureCell’s 2022 Honours #scholarship recipients. Lizamarie is currently undertaking her honours degree within the Reproductive Cancer Research Group, led by Dr Carmela Ricciardelli at the University of Adelaide.

Lizamarie’s Honours project is looking at a protein (glypican-1 or GPC-1) – the levels of which are significantly increased in ovarian cancers with low immune cell infiltration.

The study is investigating whether GPC-1 expression is associated with ovarian cancer progression, and also whether CAR-T cells targeting GPC-1 will recognise and specifically kill ovarian cancer cells.

When asked how this scholarship has benefited her personally, Lizamarie replied, "I'm in the lab five days a week, sometimes I come in on Saturdays as well. But because we don't get to work, I think having the scholarship money is really good".

Many honours students are unable to work to support themselves financially given their heavy and intense study load. With CureCell’s support, students in the #celltherapy field can focus on their studies without having to work many hours in part-time jobs.