Student research programs

Benefits

Winter research at UQ provides a range of benefits, including:

• experience to ‘test-drive’ research before embarking on future research studies, such as Honours or Higher Degree Research projects such as Master’s, MPhil or PhD
• enhance your employability through opportunities to develop new academic and professional skills
• access to research networks and the opportunity to build connections with staff and postgraduate students;
• supervision by world-class UQ researchers
• access to world-class facilities 
• the possibility of obtaining credit towards your degree or the UQ Employability Award
• a grant for qualifying students to receive $2000 to support their engagement 

Eligibility

To be eligible to participate and receive a grant you must meet all of the following criteria:

1. You are enrolled in an undergraduate, honours, or postgraduate coursework program at UQ at the time of application (internal or external study options apply); and
2. You will maintain ongoing enrolment in a program at UQ for the entirety of the Research Experience Program (graduation will affect this, please check the FAQs for clarification); and
3. Your area of study is relevant to the research project you apply for; and
4. You have a high level of academic achievement during your degree; and
5. You have at least 20 unused days of Unpaid Work Experience if applying for the Winter Research Program and 30 unused days of Unpaid Work Experience if applying for the Summer Research Program**

If you are due to graduate from your current program of study and will be commencing further undergraduate or postgraduate coursework study the following semester, you may be eligible to participate.  This will depend on whether you can demonstrate enrolment in your new program of study prior to the Summer or Winter Research Program commencing.  You may be asked to provide evidence of enrolment by providing an Enrolment Status Report, available through Si-Net

Students may be eligible to participate in the Program and receive a scholarship more than once at the discretion of QBI. However, if the number of applicants exceeds available places and funding, preference will be given to first-time applicants.

Assessment and selection

You will be assessed by QBI staff who will determine your suitability. Placements will be awarded on a competitive basis, taking into account:

• eligibility
• availability of projects and supervisors
• quality of the project
• academic merit 
• reasons provided for wanting to participate in the Program
• skills and attributes of applicants to meet project requirements
• available funding.

Scholarship support

All applicants will be automatically considered for a Winter Research Scholarship. If you qualify you'll receive funding of AUD$2000.

No scholars are permitted to participate in the program in a voluntary capacity.

If you withdraw from the Program, or your placement is terminated, your scholarship will need to be returned for the equivalent full weeks remaining unworked.

Time commitment and obligations

It is expected that you will be available and make a commitment to work on a full-time basis between 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (up to 36 hours each week) during the Program.

You're expected to actively participate in an ongoing research project or to undertake a substantial piece of supervised research work. Where appropriate to the project, additional discipline-/project-specific obligations may also be required, such as training in research safety and ethics.

Winter research project work should not conflict with teaching weeks and should not commence prior to completing assessment or semester examination requirements.

If you're accepted to participate in the Program at QBI, you'll be asked to complete a Student Intellectual Property and Confidentiality Deed (SIPCA) for your research project.

Towards the end of the Program, you may be requested by your supervisor to prepare and provide either a short-written report or oral presentation during a lab group meeting, about their summer project work.

Welcome event and student induction

Scholars accepted for the program at QBI are strongly encouraged to commence to participate in the compulsory UQ SEC Winter Research Welcome event and QBI’s compulsory student induction activities and requirements organised for that day including OHS training.

 How to apply

You can only submit only one application but you can specify a second preference in your application.

Step 1 - Choose a project from the list of available projects listed below.

Step 2 – Check your eligibility.
Carefully read through all of the UQ SEC Summer Research Program information on the UQ Careers and Employability website. 

Step 3 – Email the relevant project contact person to express your interest in the project to ask if they will support your application. In this email, attach your detailed academic CV and complete academic transcripts. If they support your EOI you'll need to include their supportive statement in your application.

Step 4 – Submit an online application via UQ Student Hub and upload supporting documentation by 13 April 2025. 

This should include your:

•  complete academic transcripts
• personal statement explaining why you wish to be considered for the project
• resume
• supporting statement from the project supervisor (this may be a copy of any email correspondence)

All applicants will be notified if they will be invited to participate in the Program by (TBA)

Have questions?

If you have any questions regarding the 2025 UQ SEC Winter Research Program at QBI, please email collaborators@qbi.uq.edu.au.

 Available Projects

How does clozapine modulate RNA methylation in human dopaminergic neuroblastoma and astrocyte cell lines?

Primary Supervisor: Dr Xiaoying Cui, x.cui@uq.edu.au (Prof Darryl Eyles Lab)
 

Description

Schizophrenia is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder affecting approximately 1% of the global population. Among those diagnosed, 25–30% do not respond to at least two different antipsychotic medications and are classified as having treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Clozapine is the only recommended therapy for TRS and is considered the most effective antipsychotic; however, its use is limited due to severe side effects. Clozapine has been shown to regulate gene expression, a process now understood to be influenced by epigenetic (DNA modification) and epitranscriptomic (RNA modification) mechanisms. Our previous research has demonstrated that chronic clozapine treatment alters the expression of DNA and RNA methylation enzymes in the rat brain. Given that clozapine regulates gene expression in a cell type-specific manner, this project aims to investigate its effects on DNA and RNA methylation regulatory enzymes in human dopaminergic neuroblastoma cells and astrocytes. We will examine clozapine’s impact on global DNA and RNA methylation levels, as well as its effects on neurite outgrowth and synapse formation in differentiated dopaminergic neurons derived from human neuroblastoma cells.

The project will be conducted on-site, level 5 laboratory.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

The scholar will gain a deeper understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms underlying clozapine’s effects and acquire expertise in various cellular and molecular techniques, including cell culture, DNA and RNA extraction, real-time PCR, dot blot analysis, and immunocytochemistry.

Time commitments and obligations

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (30 June – 25 July 2025).

Investigating the role of disease risk variants in Motor Neuron Disease

Primary Supervisor: Dr Adekunle Bademosi, a.bademosi@uq.edu.au (A/Prof Adam Walker Lab)

Description

The majority (>90 %) of motor neuron disease (MND) cases is sporadic and occurs in patients with no family history of the disease. Recent genetic studies have identified various variances in the genes of sporadic MND patients that increases the risk for developing the disease. This project aims to characterise how some of these disease risk variants compromise normal function and induce neuronal degeneration.

All aspects of this project will be onsite at QBI.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Students will gain skills in microscopy, tissue culture and data analysis.

Suitability

This project is open to all students with a background in biomedical science in their 2nd or 3rd year.

Time commitments and obligations

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (30 June – 25 July 2025).

10,000 Hours

Primary Supervisors: 

Prof. Karen Thorpe, k.thorpe@uq.edu.au
Dr. Aisling Mulvihill, a.mulvihill@uq.edu.au
Ms. Nicole Lakeman, n.lakeman@uq.edu.au

Hours of engagement and delivery mode

Approx. 29hours per week (4 days). On-site but some opportunity for hybrid work

Description

The 10,000 Hours Project is a 4-year longitudinal study. The study’s aim is to understand what barriers limit the delivery of learning opportunities and outcomes for children, families, and educators and what works best to support children to thrive. We aim to translate our findings from this study into meaningful guidance for parents, educators, clinicians, and policy makers. 

The 10,000 Hours Project is being conducted by researchers at The University of Queensland, led by Professor Karen Thorpe. This study is funded by a grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC). 

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

The selected winter scholar will have opportunity to learn about:

• Longitudinal research design
• Observational research methods
• Management of large data sets
• Data collection in naturalistic contexts

The selected scholar will primarily support with data management activities but will have opportunity to learn about a diverse array of projects and work alongside a multidisciplinary team that is focused on child development. The scholar will have opportunities to attend team meetings and events.

Suitability

This scholarship would be most suitable for 3^rd – 4th year students from Allied Health, Psychology and Education backgrounds who have a keen interest in learning more about research.

Further info

If you have any questions, please contact Dr Aisling Mulvihill on a.mulvihill@uq.edu.au. 

Investigating gene therapeutic approaches for the treatment of motor neurone disease

Primary Supervisor: Dr Margreet Ridder, m.ridder@uq.edu.au (Prof Pankaj Sah Lab)

Hours of engagement and delivery mode

The project will be onsite between 32 – 36 hrs per week or through a hybrid arrangement (maximum of 14 hrs remote per week).

Description

Motor neurone disease (MND), is a fatal adult-onset neurodegenerative disease characterized by a progressive loss of motor neurons. One in every 300 Australians will die from MND, with 59 being the average age of onset. In Australia there are currently around 2000 people living with MND, and most will die from respiratory failure within 3 years of diagnosis. The cause for MND is unknown for the majority of patients. There is currently no cure or effective treatment to stop MND from progressing. The mainstay treatment since 1995 has been the drug riluzole (sold as Rilutek), which increases survival by only 6-19 months, emphasising the need for more effective treatments. For this project, the scholar will test the effectiveness of our gene therapeutic approach on reduces motor neuron death in a mouse model for MND.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Scholars will be involved in neuronal labelling, tissue fixation and fluorescence microscopy. They will obtain skills in neuroanatomy and anatomical data analysis.

Suitability

This project is open to all life sciences students with an interest in neurodegenerative disease and who are keen to acquire some laboratory skills (histology). Most suitable for a third-year student considering honours in the field of neuroscience.

Further info

For further information, please contact Dr. Margreet Ridder m.ridder@uq.edu.au

Intrinsic and extrinsic regulation of the mitochondrial genome in disease

Primary Supervisor: A/Prof Steven Zuryn, s.zuryn@uq.edu.au (A/Prof Steven Zuryn Lab)

Hours of engagement and delivery mode

4 weeks within the 30 June – 25 July 2025 window.
Hours of engagement: 36 hrs per week.

The project will be offered on-site at The Queensland Brain Institute.

Description

The project can be customised to the students interests but will help a current major project in the lab. We are a molecular and cellular biology lab and perform cutting-edge techniques, such as genome engineering, next-generation sequencing, and interspecies genetic interactions. Our focus is mitochondrial genetics and epigenetics, due to the critical role that these have on disease and ageing.

Below is a general description of our research:

With life expectancies increasing around the world, neurodegenerative disorders (e.g. Alzheimer's disease -AD, Parkinson's disease - PD, Motor neuron diseases - MND) represent an enormous disease burden on individuals, families, and society. Two forms of cellular stress are a hallmark of age-related neurodegenerative disease: mitochondrial dysfunction, and toxicity resulting from conformationally challenged, aggregate-prone proteins. Although direct links between these factors and human disease are sometimes elusive, such stressors ultimately lead to a decline in individual neuron function over time.

The Zuryn lab uses cutting-edge molecular and cellular techniques in C. elegans and human cell culture systems to understand the fundamental mechanisms by which cells respond to and mitigate mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria harbour their own genome (mtDNA), which is prone to accumulating mutations as we age leading to dysfunction that may contribute to the progressive nature of neurodegenerative diseases. The Zuryn lab have recently discovered that certain cell types in the body are prone to propagating mtDNA mutations more than others (Ahier et al. Nature Cell Biology 2018) and that aggregate-prone disease-associated proteins can enhance the accumulation of mtDNA mutations in neurons by inhibiting quality control pathways, such as mitophagy (Cummins et al. EMBO Journal 2019, Ahier et al Cell Reports 2021).

Excitingly, the Zuryn lab are now uncovering multiple distinct mechanisms that counteract the mtDNA mutations themselves by developing novel genetic tools that allow them to probe cellular responses and protective mechanisms that reverse the effects of mtDNA damage (Dai et al. Nature Cell Biology 2023).

Furthermore, they have revealed an ancient epigenetic mark (6mA) that decorates the mtDNA and protects against the inheritance of mtDNA mutations to future generations (Hahn et al. Cell Metabolism 2024).

The overarching aim of the Zuryn lab is to discover new molecules and mechanisms that protect cells from the effects of mitochondrial dysfunction and that may be used as novel therapeutics to counteract mitochondrial and neurodegenerative disease.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Students will gain cutting-edge skills in molecular biology, genetics, and genomics techniques while developing an understanding of genetic model systems. Students will be asked to deliver their findings in a lab meeting, learning critical scientific communication techniques.  Students will also learn how to collect and interpret complex data and present and analyse results using statistical methods.

Suitability

This project is open to applications from students with a background in molecular biology, genetics, or a similar field. Students with ambitions in pursuing a high-level scientific research career with a desire to undertake honours and further postgraduate studies are best suited to join us.

Further info

For further information, please contact A/Prof Steven Zuryn, s.zuryn@uq.edu.au.