QSKIN: The burden of cancer

Suitable for Masters and PhD students.

The QSkin study is a longitudinal cohort study established with the primary aim of deriving measures of absolute and relative risk for basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and melanoma associated with phenotypic, genetic, clinical, and environmental factors. Secondary aims were to estimate the burden (treatments, hospitalisations, direct and indirect costs, mortality etc.) of skin cancer; quantify the effects of protective behaviours; and develop tools for predicting risk of melanoma and other skin cancers. The cohort was established in 2010 and comprises of 43,794 men and women aged 40-69 years sampled randomly (in strata of age and sex) from the Queensland Electoral Roll. Participants completed a baseline survey and gave consent for record linkage to the Queensland Cancer Registry (QCR), Medicare (MBS/PBS), pathology providers (private and public) and the Queensland Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection. These linkages ensure virtually complete follow-up of all clinical events in the cohort. In 2015, 18,000 participants provided a saliva sample and these have been genotyped on the Illumina Global Screening array.

We are seeking highly motivated PhD students with experience in data analysis who are interested in undertaking a project related to skin cancer. These may include (but are not limited to):

• Health services research.
• Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses.
• The genetics of multiplicity (i.e., susceptibility to many tumours).
• Gene/environment interactions in the aetiology of skin cancer.
• Lifestyle factors in the aetiology/prevention of skin cancer.