Dr. Durga Mithraprabhu completed her Masters of Biological Sciences (Honours) at one of India’s top science and engineering colleges, the Birla Institute of Technology and Science – Pilani (BITS-Pilani) in 2003. She then pursued her Doctor of Philosophy (2004 – 2008) in Professor Kate Loveland’s laboratory at the Monash Institute of Medical Research supported by two Monash Scholarships, the Monash Graduate Scholarship (MGS) and the Monash International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (MIPRS). Dr. Mithraprabhu’s PhD investigated the role of c-KIT in spermatogenesis and haematopoiesis and she published 5 original research articles (3 first author papers) in top reproductive biology journals (Reproduction, Biology of Reproduction and International Journal of Andrology). She continues to consistently publish in reproductive biology through collaborations (3 publications – 2016, 2019 and 2020). Her PhD work provided the foundation for investigating how activin signalling regulated haematopoiesis and she was supported by the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences’ Monash Strategic Grants Scheme (2009-2010) to perform these studies.

Dr. Mithraprabhu joined Professor Andrew Spencer’s Myeloma Research Group (MRG) at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases as a postdoctoral scientist in 2010. Her work on histone deacetylases (HDAC) in multiple myeloma (MM) and the utilisation of HDAC inhibitors (HDACi)/novel drugs for MM therapy resulted in 11 manuscripts, 6 conference abstracts, initiated a fully funded Phase I clinical trial at the Alfred Hospital and attracted significant research funding ($180K); she was subsequently promoted to Senior Research Fellow at the MRG. From 2014, Dr. Mithraprabhu has developed and led the liquid biopsy research program within MRG that focuses on the utility of circulating cell-free nucleic acids and proteins to improve genomic characterisation and therapeutic monitoring in MM. Importantly, her initial work on liquid biopsy provided the framework for the establishment of the national biobank, the M1000, that aims to procure n=1000 each of liquid biopsy samples from pre-malignant and newly diagnosed MM patients. She is also a co-investigator for liquid biopsy correlative studies on all MM clinical trials at the Alfred Hospital. Her work has resulted in several high-impact publications (3 book chapters, 9 manuscripts and 4 conference abstracts), procurement of significant research funding (2.4M) from the NHMRC, International Myeloma Foundation and Equity Trustees, invitations to speak at multiple haematology conferences, collaborations with clinicians and industry partners and 2 patents to develop circulating cell-free DNA and RNA as diagnostic modalities.

Multiple myeloma

Liquid biopsy

Histone deacetylases

Epigenetics

Reproductive Biology