Le Myo Thwe
Children's Hospital, Westmead, NSW
Rotary Club of Adelaide
Childhood Cancer
I was born in Lewe, Myanmar on 30th October, 1969. I matriculated with five distinctions in 1986 from State High School No (2) Latha, Yangon and joined the Institute of Medicine (1), Yangon, Myanmar. I obtained my MBBS degree in 1996 and after finishing the house surgeon internship, I worked as a civil assistant surgeon for 2 years at Yangon General Hospital, which is a tertiary hospital in Myanmar. Then, I became a demonstrator in the Department of Pathology, Institute of Medicine (1), Yangon, Myanmar. I attended the post-graduate course, Master of Medical Science (Pathology) in December, 2000 and I obtained the Masters degree in April, 2003.
I was promoted as assistant lecturer while attending the Masters course. In November, 2004, I was again promoted as a lecturer/consultant by merit. While working at the Institute of Medicine (1), I taught under-graduate as well as post-graduate medical students and also provided laboratory services at the Department of Pathology in Yangon General Hospital. As per tradition in Myanmar, I practised as a general practitioner in my private clinic. I also founded Kyaik Waing Free of Charge Clinic for monks and worked as a medical officer and as a pathologist in every weekend from 1998 to 2008. Moreover, I supervised and trained assistant lecturers and demonstrators as well as house surgeons.
Then, I came to Australia in 2008 and worked as a tutor in the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Sydney in 2009. I also worked as an honorary observer in the Department of Anatomical Pathology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. Now, I am undertaking a PhD degree at the Children’s Cancer Research Unit, Kids’ Research Institute, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, University of Sydney. I am also a member of Australian Institute of Medical Scientists.
SUMMARY OF PROJECT:
Biomarker analysis in paediatric tumours diagnosed within a single institution.
Aims
(1) Derive clinical information-based cohorts of paediatric tumours with poor prognosis diagnosed at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
(2) Determine over which time periods different tumour types need to be collected in order to obtain information cohorts.
(3) Examine whether biomarkers can be feasibly assessed in these cohorts using immunohistochemical and other analyses.
(4) Assess the expression of novel biomarkers in paediatric tumours with poor prognosis.
Background
The total proportion of childhood cancers represents approximately 0.6% of all cancers diagnosed. Biological molecules in tissue samples are known to degrade over time. If a tumour type requires samples to be collected over 10-20 years in order to obtain a statistically informative cohort, these samples may not b validly compared because of their different ages. Technical factors may therefore significantly influence biomarker analysis in childhood cancer.
Hypothesis
Storage time of samples affects measurements of gene and protein expression in paediatric tumour cohorts, due to samples being required to be collected over long period.
Methods
Clinical information for neuroblastoma patients will be obtained from tumour bank, Oncology database and medical records on Power Chat and be imported into SPSS for statistical analysis. We will also focus upon specimen ages, to examine the effects of storage time upon biomarker expression. Cohorts will be divided into subgroups based upon time since collection, and biomarker expression will be assessed using immunohistochemistry. Staining intensity will be assessed using visual scoring and Pixel counting.
Results and Conclusion
This project will have important implications for future research involving childhood cancers, as well as policies regarding biobanking and distribution of childhood cancer samples.