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  • Members of the ECU Melanoma Research Group

    Members of the Translational Melanoma Research Group

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Translational Melanoma Research Group

Melanoma is one of Australia’s most common cancers, with more than 13,000 new cases diagnosed each year. For one in ten people, the disease is detected only after it has already spread, significantly reducing survival prospects. With over 1,700 Australians dying from melanoma annually—around one every five hours—there is an urgent need to better understand how the disease progresses and why some tumours respond well to treatment while others develop resistance.

Our research focuses on developing non‑invasive, blood‑based tests that enable personalised cancer monitoring and guide treatment decisions, and the discovery of new therapeutic targets to address current unmet needs in the treatment of melanoma, ultimately aiming to support more precise and effective melanoma care.

Our current research is underpinned by two domains: the Cancer Blood Biomarkers Cohort Study within the Centre for Precision Health at ECU, and the Melanoma Discovery Laboratory at the Harry Perkins Medical Research Institute.

Group Leader

Professor Elin Gray

Contact details: e.gray@ecu.edu.au

Research Team

Collaborating researchers

  • Dr Aaron Beasley, Centre for Precision Health
  • Dr Vivian Chua, Centre for Precision Health
  • Dr Pauline Zaenker, Centre for Precision Health
  • Professor Helen Rizos, Macquarie University
  • Professor Jonas Nilsson, Sahlgrenska Center for Cancer Research, Sweden
  • Associate Professor Jason Waithman, Harry Perkins Medical Research Institute

HDR students

  • Dr Aesha Gandhi (PhD)
  • Lidia Medhin (PhD)
  • Nikayla Batohi (PhD)
  • Aydin Raei-Sadigh (PhD)
  • Manjot Singh (PhD)

Current projects

  • Cancer Blood Biomarkers Cohort Study
  • Extracellular vesicles-derived signature of response to immuno-oncology (EnVISION)
  • ctDNA-guided clinical management of melanoma
  • Western Australian Melanoma Initiative (WAMI)
  • Integrated multimodal precision liquid biopsy to enhance melanoma and non-small-cell lung cancer (IMPLEMENT)
  • Enabling advanced single cell cancer genomics in WA
  • cEVsig: A novel liquid biopsy for predicting and enhancing immunotherapy response

For ways to support us or for more information, contact Professor Elin Gray

Postgraduate student project opportunities

For more information see the Centre for Precision Health graduate opportunities webpage

Key publications

Selected publications from the last 5 years

  1. Sheriff S, Saba M, Patel R, Fisher G, Schroeder T, Arnolda G, Luo D, Warburton L, Gray E, Long G, Braithwaite J, Rizos H, Ellis LA. A scoping review of factors influencing the implementation of liquid biopsy for cancer care. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Feb 12;44(1):50. doi: 10.1186/s13046-025-03322-w.
  2. Denisenko E, de Kock L, Tan A, Beasley AB, Beilin M, Jones ME, Hou R, Muirí DÓ, Bilic S, Mohan GRKA, Salfinger S, Fox S, Hmon KPW, Yeow Y, Kim Y, John R, Gilderman TS, Killingbeck E, Gray ES, Cohen PA, Yu Y, Forrest ARR. Spatial transcriptomics reveals discrete tumour microenvironments and autocrine loops within ovarian cancer subclones. Nat Commun. 2024 Apr 3;15(1):2860. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-47271-y.
  3. Warburton L, Reid A, Amanuel B, Calapre L, Millward M, Gray E. Detectable ctDNA at the time of treatment cessation of ipilimumab and nivolumab for toxicity predicts disease progression in advanced melanoma patients. Front Oncol. 2023 Dec 19;13:1280730. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1280730.
  4. Beasley AB, de Bruyn DP, Calapre L, Al-Ogaili Z, Isaacs TW, Bentel J, Reid AL, Dwarkasing RS, Pereira MR, Khattak MA, Meniawy TM, Millward M, Brosens E, de Klein A, Chen FK, Kiliҫ E, Gray ES. Detection of metastases using circulating tumour DNA in uveal melanoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2023 Nov;149(16):14953-14963. doi: 10.1007/s00432-023-05271-3.
  5. Asante DB, Mohan G, Acheampong E, Ziman M, Calapre L, Meniawy TM, Gray ES and Beasley AB. Genetic analysis of heterogeneous subsets of circulating tumour cells from high grade serous ovarian carcinoma patients. Sci Rep. 2023; 13(1):2552 10.1038/s41598-023-29416-z.
  6. Abed A, Law N, Calapre L, Lo J, Bhat V, Bowyer S, Millward M, Gray ES. Human leucocyte antigen genotype association with the development of immune-related adverse events in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with single agent immunotherapy. Eur J Cancer. 2022 Sep;172:98-106. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2022.05.021.
  7. Marsavela G, McEvoy AC, Pereira MR, Reid AL, Al-Ogaili Z, Warburton L, Khattak MA, Abed A, Meniawy TM, Millward M, Ziman MR, Calapre L, Gray ES. Detection of clinical progression through plasma ctDNA in metastatic melanoma patients: a comparison to radiological progression. Br J Cancer. 2022 Feb;126(3):401-408. doi: 10.1038/s41416-021-01507-6.

More publications by the team

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