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  • Research Project Coordinator
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
  • PhD student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
  • Coin Group

      Group Leader

    Hon Assoc Professor Lachlan Coin

    Honorary Professor
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 
    Body: 

    Highlights

    Professor Lachlan Coin is a mathematician with a research focus on developing genomics and bioinformatics tools in infectious disease and cancer. He was originally drawn by the rigour and intellectual challenge of pure mathematics but now uses his maths background as a toolkit for solving complex problems in analysing high throughput biological data.

    Professor Coin is best known for using approaches borrowed from machine learning, statistics and probability theory to interrogate genomic data.

    In particular, Professor Coin has focussed on using these approaches to uncover genomic deletions and amplifications and has identified changes that are associated with increased risk of obesity and diabetes.

    He has also developed approaches for finding minimal biomarker signatures associated with disease, and has applied these approaches to find biomarkers that distinguish bacterial from viral infection, and for the presence of active tuberculosis infection. He is also applying his methodology to develop a diagnostic tool for cancer from cell free DNA

    Ultimately, Professor Coin is motivated by making discoveries that are routinely used in clinical practice and to inform public policy to improve health outcomes.

    Professor Coin holds an Honorary Professor appointment with UQ, and is a Professor at the Doherty Institute at the University of Melbourne.

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      Researchers

    Dr Quan Nguyen

    Senior Research Fellow & Group Leader
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 
    Researcher biography: 

    Dr Quan Nguyen is a Group Leader at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), The University of Queensland, where he leads the Genomics and Machine Learning (GML) Laboratory. His research focuses on understanding pathological processes within tissues to identify biomarkers for early diagnosis, patient stratification, and prediction of treatment response. His work integrates statistical machine learning techniques with advanced genomic technologies, combining single-cell and spatiotemporal sequencing data with tissue imaging to uncover causal links between genotypes and phenotypes across biological scales, from single cell, to tissue microenvironment, organ, multi-organ and population level. By studying cell-cell interactions, his research also contributes to the discovery of novel drug targets and improved understanding of drug mechanisms and toxicity. The GML Laboratory also develops spatiotemporal experimental platforms for large-scale biomarker profiling and validation in preclinical models and patient cohorts.

    Dr Nguyen completed a PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Queensland in 2013, postdoctoral training in Bioinformatics at RIKEN institute in Japan in 2015, a CSIRO Office of Chief Executive (OCE) Research Fellowship in 2016, an IMB Fellow in 2018, an Australian Research Council DECRA fellowship in 2021, and is a National Health and Medical Research Council leadership fellow. He has authored 86 publications in top-tier journals, like Cell, Nature Genetics, and Nature Method, averaging ~45.5 citations per paper, and led the development of 14 software tools with over 250,000 downloads. His recognised expertise is demonstrated through 14 national/international awards, numerous invited talks (21 international, 42 national), invited grant reviews for funding bodies in nine countries, and active editorial roles for BMC Cancer and Genome Medicine. His commitment to propelling the field forward is evident in leading roles within key consortia and forums and his dedication to organise training workshops and conferences. He has secured over $31 million in grant funding as a chief investigator from national and international funding agencies (e.g., ARC, NHMRC, MRFF, DoD, NCI) and from industry partners, with approximately $11million directly supporting his lab's groundbreaking work.

      Students

    Dr Son Nguyen

    Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Ms Miranda Pitt

    Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    0
    Supervisor: 

    Mr Haojing Shao

    Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

    Mr Chenxi Zhou

    Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

    Mr Hyun Jae Lee

    Higher degree by research (PhD) student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

    Ms Janice Reid

    Honours student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

    Ms Dilys Li

    Honours student
    Institute for Molecular Bioscience
    Researcher profile is public: 
    1
    Supervisor: 

      Support staff

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The Edge: Genetics

People have known for thousands of years that parents pass traits to their children, but it is only relatively recently that our technology has caught up to our curiosity, enabling us to delve into the mystery of how this inheritance occurs, and the implications for predicting, preventing and treating disease.

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