Dr Jacqueline Noll

Dr Jacqueline Noll completed her PhD in 2011 through her research into the p53 family of proteins and tumour suppressor genes. Her research is driven by her passion for understanding the complex nature of cancer biology, and Dr Noll ultimately aims to translate that knowledge into improving clinical outcomes for people diagnosed with cancer. Since attaining her PhD, Dr Noll has worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Myeloma Research Laboratory with a focus on the interactions between tumour cells and the bone marrow microenvironment.

Her research explores multiple myeloma—an incurable blood cancer—and its relationship to an asymptomatic condition known as monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). Only around 10 per cent of people diagnosed with MGUS go on to be diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and there is no current method to identify which people are most likely to progress. Dr Noll’s research team has identified an enzyme which is essential for myeloma tumour development in preclinical models of the disease. Through investigating the function of this enzyme in tumour development, Dr Noll aims to determine if it is a therapeutic target to slow or prevent MGUS transition to myeloma, and to inform which people diagnosed with MGUS will progress to a myeloma diagnosis.