Dr Heloisa Zaccaron Milioli
Dr Heloisa Milioli is a Senior Research Officer in Christine Chaffer’s Laboratory at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. She integrates molecular biology and computational approaches to investigate the complex mechanisms driving breast cancer development, progression and metastasis. Her research focuses on non-genetic mechanisms governing cell state plasticity and therapy resistance. Her work has been supported by Cancer Institute NSW (2018–2020, Early Career Fellowship), Cancer Council NSW (2023–2026), Tour de Cure (2024) and others. Her research on the context-dependent role of the androgen receptor (AR) in both primary and resistant breast cancer—published in Nature Medicine, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and MedRxiv—has helped shape ongoing clinical trials (NCT02463032, NCT04947189), underscoring her commitment to improving outcomes for cancer patients in Australia and worldwide.
* Eligible to supervise Honours, Master and PhD students.
Grants and Funding:
2024 Tour de Cure (CI, AUD $50,000): Exploiting mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance: new strategies to cure cancer
2023-2025 Cancer Council NSW (CI, AUD $370,000): Targeting cellular plasticity to prevent and treat chemotherapy-resistant disease
2020 Cancer Clinical Academic Group E/MCR Seed Grant Scheme (AI, AUD $50,000): Targeting FGF fusions in previously untreatable cancers: A new OMICS approach for personalised cancer medicine
2019-2020 National Breast Cancer Foundation (CI-B, AUD $200,000): Targeting the p53 pathway in the age of CDK4/6 inhibitor resistant ER positive breast cancer
2019-2021 National Breast Cancer Foundation (AI, AUD $600,000): Therapeutic targeting of dual CDK4/6 inhibitor and endocrine resistant breast cancer
2018-2020 Cancer Institute NSW - Early Career Fellowship (CI, AUD $600,000): Expanding the repertoire of therapies targeting sex steroid receptors in breast cancer
Awards
- 2024St Vincent’s Research Week - Best Poster Award (EMCR). Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2022Estee Lauder Breast Cancer Award (AUD $10000). Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2018Garvan Institute of Medical Research Travel Grant (AUD $1000). EMCR Forum 2018. Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2016EMBL Australia PhD Travel Grant (AUD $3000) - 18th EMBL PhD Symposium in Heildeberg - Germany. Australia
- 2016Young Scientist Award - 2nd World Congress on Controversies in Breast Cancer (CoBrCA). Barcelona - Spain
- 2015Bioinfosummer 2015 Travel Bursary (AUD $500) - Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) - Australia
- 2015BioInfoSummer 2015 - Best Poster Award. Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2015Hunter Cancer Research Alliance (HCRA) PhD RESEARCH AWARD 2016 (AUD $5000). Newcastle NSW - Australia
- 2015Hunter Cancer Research Alliance (HCRA) Travel Grant (AUD $1000). Newcastle NSW - Australia
- 2014BioInfoSummer 2014 - Best Poster Presentation. Melbourne VIC - Australia
- 2014International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB) - Best Poster Award. Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2014JENNIE THOMAS MEDICAL RESEARCH Travel Grant (AUD $10 - 000) - Hunter Medical Research Institute. Newcastle NSW - Australia
Education
- 2008Bachelor of Science (Bachelor of Science (B.S))Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil
- 2011Master of Science (Master of Science (M.S))Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Brazil
- 2017Doctor of Philosophy (Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D))University of Newcastle, Australia
Selected publications
See all publications- 2025Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research : CR10.1186/s13046-025-03466-9
JNK pathway suppression mediates insensitivity to combination endocrine therapy and CDK4/6 inhibition in ER+ breast cancer.
- 2024Cancer Research10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-24-0013
Induction of the TEAD Coactivator VGLL1 by Estrogen Receptor-Targeted Therapy Drives Resistance in Breast Cancer.
- 2024IScience10.1016/j.isci.2024.110116
Increased prevalence of hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal state and enhanced phenotypic heterogeneity in basal breast cancer.
- 2024Nature Structural & Molecular Biology10.1038/s41594-023-01181-7
The potential of epigenetic therapy to target the 3D epigenome in endocrine-resistant breast cancer.
- 2023BioRxiv : The Preprint Server for Biology10.1101/2023.09.30.558960
Multi-modal transcriptomic analysis unravels enrichment of hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal state and enhanced phenotypic heterogeneity in basal breast cancer.