Young researchers recognised
Caroline Le won the audience over with her inspiring research on how stress can affect the progression of cancer
Monash PhD students Caroline Le and Monique Topp were recognised nationally among talented early career researchers this month.
The pair was recognised at an awards ceremony of the Cooperative Research Centres Association (CRC) in Melbourne, celebrating exceptional research and communication.
They were among six finalists from more than 50 entries in the Showcasing Early Career Researchers competition, with Ms Le taking out the award.
Entrants were asked to submit a 30-second video demonstrating they could convey the aim of their research clearly and effectively.
Ms Le won the audience over with her inspiring research on how stress can affect the progression of cancer.
“Using glowing tumour cells, my work shows that stress weakens our immune systems and actually helps cancer cells spread throughout the body,” Ms Le said.
“I’ve also shown that the use of some existing drugs may be able to block these stress signals from having their effect.
“The CRC Association showcasing early career researchers is an amazing opportunity to present your work to a wide and diverse audience. Winning the competition was very humbling, even more so because I was up against a group of extremely talented early career researchers.”
Ms Topp was shortlisted for her research investigating models that can change the way ovarian cancer is treated.
Ms Le is a PhD student at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and is a student member of the Cancer Therapeutics (CTx) Cooperative Research Centre.
Ms Topp is a PhD student in the Faculty of Medcine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash, and is a student member of the Cancer Therapeutics (CTx) Cooperative Research Centre.