Chamindie Punyadeera,
Associate Professor, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation,
Queensland University of Technology
Associate Professor Chamindie Punyadeera is an entrepreneur with a track record in innovation, industry engagement, intellectual property generation, and business development. She is a globally acknowledged pioneer in salivary diagnostics. She obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Chemistry from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, prior to undertaking postdoctoral training with Professor Ton de Goeij, at the University of Masstricht, The Netherlands. She subsequently joined Royal Philips Electronics, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, as a Senior Scientist/Project Leader. Currently she heads the Saliva Translational Research (STaR) laboratory at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Her team focuses on developing novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases, head and neck cancers and linking oral health to systemic diseases. She has collaborative projects with Johnson & Johnson, MDx-health, Mawi-DNA Technologies and Oasis Diagnostics, is a consultant to Oasis Diagnostics® and FLUIDS iQ™. She has 13 PCT patents and over 60 refereed publications, including 4 invited book chapters, and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Oral Oncology and the Associate Editor to the Journal of Dento Medical Science.
Tackling Global Health Issues Using a Simple Saliva Test
Tuesday, 3 October 2017 at 14:00
Add to Calendar ▼2017-10-03 14:00:002017-10-03 15:00:00Europe/LondonTackling Global Health Issues Using a Simple Saliva TestPOC Diagnostics, Global Health-Viral Diseases 2017 in Coronado Island, CaliforniaCoronado Island, CaliforniaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
There is increasing evidence linking oral health to systemic diseases. As such, human saliva is gaining momentum as a diagnostic fluid for the future. Saliva is an ideal diagnostic medium due to the ability to collect it non-invasively. We have been investigating the utility of saliva in diagnosing heart failure patients, and have detected cardiac specific NT-proBNP proteins in saliva (76.8 pg/mL), as well as cardiac troponin-I. The common acute phase inflammatory protein, C Reactive Protein, was also detected in saliva from controls (285 pg/mL) and in cardiac patients (1680 pg/mL) (p<0.01). Oral cavity cancers are more prevalent in emergent economies, whereas the incidence of oropharyngeal cancers is rapidly increasing in the western world. About 50% of these patients die within five years of initial diagnosis due to high burden, aggressive disease and intensive treatment. Diagnostics tools for early detection of these head and neck cancers (HNCs) are desperately needed, in order to reduce disease and treatment-related mortality and morbidity. DNA methylation changes are a hall mark of tumorigenesis. In this study, we have measured DNA methylation levels of RASSF1, p16INK4a, TIMP3, PCQAP 5’ and PCQAP 3’ in healthy control and HNC patient saliva. The results obtained with this particular panel indicate a sensitivity of 71% and a specificity of 80% in discriminating healthy controls (n=122) from HNC patients (n=133). A separate panel measuring nine salivary miRNA biomarkers demonstrated a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 93% (AUC = 0.98) when discriminating HNC patients (n=100) from pre-cancer patients (n=29). Significant salivary miRNA changes were observed when detecting patients with early stage tumours vs patients with advanced stage tumours, highlighting the potential clinical utility as a screening tool. In addition, we have also developed a non-invasive method to detect human papillomavirus (hpv-16) in salivary oral rinses; with our test showing a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 100%. The non-invasive and simple, rapid nature of saliva collection, coupled to serial sampling and cost-effectiveness, makes saliva as an attractive biological fluid for both emerging and developed world. Expansion and implementation of saliva testing for cancer and heart failure provides a window of opportunity for earlier interventions and prevention strategies.
Add to Calendar ▼2017-10-02 00:00:002017-10-04 00:00:00Europe/LondonPOC Diagnostics, Global Health-Viral Diseases 2017POC Diagnostics, Global Health-Viral Diseases 2017 in Coronado Island, CaliforniaCoronado Island, CaliforniaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
Add to Calendar ▼2017-10-03 14:00:002017-10-03 15:00:00Europe/LondonTackling Global Health Issues Using a Simple Saliva TestPOC Diagnostics, Global Health-Viral Diseases 2017 in Coronado Island, CaliforniaCoronado Island, CaliforniaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
