Mid-Career Fellowship (Clinical Medicine/Science Research) | Flinders University
Researcher
Dr Jean Winter completed a PhD in colorectal cancer at Flinders University in 2015 and was then awarded an international postdoctoral fellowship at The National Institutes of Health in the United States. There she identified genetic biomarkers associated with increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer, before she returned to Australia to now lead the Biomarker Discovery and Application program within the Flinders University Bowel Health Service.
Dr Winter is developing a simple blood test to detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages. With most pancreatic cancer cases diagnosed when symptoms develop and the cancer has already spread, treatment options become limited. Dr Winter’s project aims to find a way to identify the unique genetic signature of pancreatic cancer through examining blood samples of people with and without pancreatic cancer. With early detection of pancreatic cancer cases before symptoms develop, Dr Winter is aiming to reduce late-stage diagnoses, leading to improved treatment and survival outcomes.