Rochelle C. J. Dsouza
Dr | Post-Doctoral Researcher
Sid Faithfull Brain Cancer Laboratory
+61 7 3362 0387rochelle.dsouza@qimrberghofer.edu.au
CAREER HISTORY
I am a molecular biologist with >9 years of research experience who is skilled in a variety of in vitro laboratory techniques, MS- based proteomics, bioinformatics analyses and animal procedures. I have completed my PhD working with one of the world leaders in proteomics Prof. Matthias Mann, at the Max Planck Institute in Germany and I am proficient at using a variety of bioinformatics tools on proteomics data to analyze complex datasets. During my postdoctoral tenure, mostly based in Australia, I worked with Prof. David James at the University of Sydney and the Garvan Institute and Dr. Jeffery Gorman at QIMR-B.
CURRENT APPOINTMENTS
- Post-Doctoral fellow, Sid Faithfull Brain Cancer laboratory, QIMRB (2016-present)
PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS
- Post-Doctoral fellow, Protein Discovery Centre, QIMRB (2015-2016)
- Post-Doctoral fellow, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney and the Garvan Institute, Sydney (2015-2016)
- Guest Faculty, Mangalore University, India (2006-2007)
ORCID NUMBER
RESEARCHER ID
CURRENT AREA OF RESEARCH
I am an integral part of the Sid Faithful laboratory team headed by Prof. Bryan Day at QIMRB, one of the leading brain cancer laboratories within Australia. I have a keen interest in studying the Eph-ephrin signalling system in adult brain cancer.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
In 2016, I was awarded a 1-year PdCCRS grant from Cancer Australia to understand the role of the Eph-ephrin system in GBM. The funding enabled me to perform an in-depth proteomic analysis of 13 primary GBM cell lines and highlighted their cell-state heterogeneity (D’Souza et al, Cells, 2020).
I used MS-based proteomics to reveal dynamic signalling events underlying transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signalling (D’Souza et al, Sci. Signal, 2014). It suggested that early TGF-β signalling is a mixture of pro and anti-proliferative signals, which is later tailored to inhibit proliferation. This work was chosen as the cover story and was featured in the journal Science.
I investigated the feasibility of a new method called higher energy collisional dissociation (HCD) for the analysis of phosphopeptides (Nagaraj*, D’Souza* et al, JPR, 2010). The work paved the way for HCD to become the method of choice and has been cited >150 times.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- The Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (COGNO) 2016-present
- Human Proteome Organization 2009-2015
AWARDS RECOGNITION
- Max Planck graduate student scholarship award, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, November 2008
- German Research Foundation graduate college scholarship award, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany, September 2007
- National Eligibility test for lectureship (2,000 awarded of 35,000), University Grants Commission, Government of India, December 2004
- University Gold medallist in microbiology (1st place among cohort >5,000 students) Mangalore University, Mangalore, India May 2003
- Gold medal for Best outgoing Science student (1st place among cohort of 500 students) St. Agnes College, Mangalore, India January 2003
- Summer research fellowship (50 awarded out of >2,000 applications) Jawaharlal Nehru centre for advanced scientific research (JNCASR), Bangalore, India April 2002
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
- PhD ‘Magna cum laude’ Award, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, November 2013
- Master of Science (biotechnology), Mysore University, India, May 2005
- Bachelor of Science (Microbiology, Zoology, Chemistry), Mangalore University, India, May 2003