Dr Qian Du

Research Officer - Epigenetics Research

Dr Qian Du

 Dr. Qian Du’s research focuses on understanding the influence of DNA replication timing on the genome and epigenome in breast and prostate cancer. Dr. Du completed her Bachelors of Science (Hons) at the University of Melbourne, where she studied zebrafish models of colorectal cancer. Following her

Research Level

Research Officer

Biography

 Dr. Qian Du’s research focuses on understanding the influence of DNA replication timing on the genome and epigenome in breast and prostate cancer. Dr. Du completed her Bachelors of Science (Hons) at the University of Melbourne, where she studied zebrafish models of colorectal cancer. Following her interests in epigenetics, Dr. Du completed a PhD from University of New South Wales with Prof. Sue Clark’s group in the Genomics and Epigenetics Division at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, where she began her work on DNA replication timing and the cancer epigenome. In 2019, Dr. Du received a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant Fellowship to continue her work.

 Dr. Qian Du’s research focuses on understanding the influence of DNA replication timing on the genome and epigenome in breast and prostate cancer. Dr. Du completed her Bachelors of Science (Hons) at the University of Melbourne, where she studied zebrafish models of colorectal cancer. Following her interests in epigenetics, Dr. Du completed a PhD from University of New South Wales with Prof. Sue Clark’s group in the Genomics and Epigenetics Division at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, where she began her work on DNA replication timing and the cancer epigenome. In 2019, Dr. Du received a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant Fellowship to continue her work.

Awards and Honours

• 2019 / NHMRC Investigator Grant, Emerging Leadership 1
• 2019 / UNSW Sydney Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis
• 2018 / Student Award, Lorne Genome Conference
• 2017 / Pathfinders Award
• 2017 / Young Investigator’s Award, AEpiA Epigenetics Conference
• 2017 / Best Oral Presentation, Australian Cell Cycle meeting 2017
• 2015 / Stuart Furler Travel Fund Award
• 2015 / Best Student Presentation, Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Society Conference (ABACBS)

Education

• 2019 / Doctor of Philosophy (Research) / University of New South Wales (St. Vincent Clinical School) / Australia
• 2011 / Bachelor of Science (Honours) / University of Melbourne / Australia

Selected Publications

Du Q., Smith G.C., Luu P.L., Ferguson J.M., Armstrong N.J., Caldon C.E., Campbell E.M., Nair S.S., Zotenko E., Gould C.M., Buckley M., Chia K-M., Portman N., Lim E., Kaczorowski D., Chan C-L., Barton K., Deveson I.W., Smith M.A., Powell J.E., Skvortsova K., Stirzaker C., Achinger-Kawecka J., Clark S.J. (2021) DNA methylation is required to maintain both DNA replication timing precision and 3D genome organisation integrity. Cell Reports.

Achinger-Kawecka J., Valdes-Mora F., Luu P.L., Giles K.A., Caldon C.E., Qu W., Nair S., Soto S., Locke W.J., Yeo-Teh N.S., Gould C.M., Du Q., Smith G.C., Ramos I.R., Fernandez K.F., Hoon D.S., Gee J.M.W., Stirzaker C., Clark S.J. (2020) Epigenetic reprogramming at estrogen-receptor binding sites alters 3D chromatin landscape in endocrine-resistant breast cancer. Nature Communications 11:1. (PMID: 31949157)

Khoury A., Achinger-Kawecka J., Bert S.A., Smith G.C., French H.J., Luu P.L., Peters T.J., Du Q., Parry A.J., Valdes-Mora F., Taberlay P.C., Stirzaker C., Statham A.L., Clark S.J. (2020) Constitutively bound CTCF sites maintain 3D chromatin architecture and long-range epigenetically regulated domains. Nature Communications 11:1. (PMID: 31911579)

Du Q.*, Bert S.A.*,  Armstrong N.J., Caldon C.E., Song J.Z., Nair S.S., Gould C.M., Luu P.L., Peters T.J., Khoury A., Qu W., Zotenko E., Stirzaker C., Clark S.J. (2019) Replication timing and epigenome remodelling are associated with the nature of chromosomal rearrangements in cancer. Nature Communications 10:1. (PMID: 30679435) (*Equal first authors) Citations: 12.

Giles K.A., Gould C.M., Du Q., Skvortsova K., Song J.Z., Maddugoda M.P., Achinger-Kawecka J., Stirzaker C., Clark S.J.* & Taberlay P.C.* (2019) Integrated epigenomic analysis stratifies chromatin remodelers into distinct functional groups. Epigenetics & Chromatin 12:12. (PMID: 30755246) (*Equal last authors) Citations: 5.

Skvortsova K., Masle-Farquhar E., Luu P.L., Song J.Z., Qu W., Zotenko E., Gould C.M., Du Q., Peters T.J., Colino-Sanguino Y., Pidsley R., Nair S.N., Khoury A., Smith G.C., Miosge L.A., Reed J.H., Kench J.G., Rubin M.A., Horvath L., Bogdanovic O., Lim S.M., Polo J.M., Goodnow C.C., Stirzaker C.* & Clark S.J.* (2019) DNA hypermethylation encroachment at CpG island borders in cancer is predisposed by H3K4 monomethylation patterns. Cancer Cell 35. (PMID: 30753827) (*Equal last authors) Citations: 12.

Stirzaker C., Song J.Z., Ng W., Du Q., Armstrong N.J., Locke W., Statham A., French H., Pidsley R., Valdes-Mora F., Zotenko E. & Clark S.J. (2016) Methyl-CpG-Binding Protein MBD2 plays a key role in maintenance and spread of DNA methylation at CpG islands and shores in cancer. Oncogene. (PMID: 27593931) Citations: 29.

Du Q., Luu P.L., Stirzaker C., Clark S.J. (2015) Methyl-CpG-binding domain proteins: readers of the epigenome. Epigenomics 7:6. (PMID: 25927341) Citations: 170.