Contact Details
University Links
- Position
- Teaching Fellow
- Department
- Department of Medical Laboratory Science (Dunedin)
- Qualifications
- PhD in Cell Biology
- Research summary
- Brain tumour subtypes, Glioblastoma and Meningioma
- Teaching
- Histopathology. Current Teaching Fellow at the Pathology Department, giving support to the Medical Laboratory Science Programme (second and third year)
- Clinical
- Inflammation, tumorigenesis, cellular trafficking, metastasis, intracellular signalling, genomics, epigenetics.
Research
Brain tumour is a solid mass of cells characterised by an abnormal and uncontrolled growth pattern. Depending on the cell origin, the tumour is classified as primary (starting in the brain) or secondary / metastatic. The brain metastases corresponds to cancer cells that escaped from its original locus (other part of the body), migrated, installed, infiltrated and now grows in the intracranial area.
One in 4 patients with cancer may develop brain metastases. It has, typically, more aggressive outcomes with poor prognoses, requiring a quick and precise medical decision. The understanding of tumour subtypes is fundamental for an accurate diagnosis and to estimated prognosis and two find the an effective therapeutic approach.
Glioblastoma is an aggressive and devastating brain cancer which median survival is only 15 months. Some tumours in the brain may be largely benign, having slow growth. The most common type is called Meningioma, which make up 30% of central nervous system tumours (incidence 6 per 100,000) and is 2.8 times more frequent in Māori. Twenty percent of patients have atypical lesions (WHO grade II) and have an unpredictable outcome, making them difficult to clinically management. A more accurate means to predict outcome for those with atypical meningiomas exists based on new molecular based technologies. These methods provide a better understanding of how tumours with similar morphology can behave differently to a treatment.
Meningioma and Glioblastoma project: The DNA methylation-base classification for meningioma has distinct ability to subtype brain tumours and better predict longer-term overall survival compared to the current morphology based WHO grade (p= 0.0096). This system has been designed with clinical practice in mind, with a pipeline for data analysis and subtype assignment. This project will adapt the molecular classification system for use in FFPE samples in New Zealand. The project will also determine if the subtypes are also relevant for Māori patients or if modified subtypes are required. This project is in collaboration with Dunedin and Hamilton hospitals.
Publications
Critchley, G., Reily-Bell, M., Robinson, S., Saraiva, A., Taha, A., Giamas, G., Slatter, T., Jones, G., & Katare, R. (2025). Investigation of a liquid biopsy extracellular vesicle biomarker for brain tumours: The role of a common inflammatory pathway. Neuro-Oncology, 27(Suppl. 2), (pp. ii17-ii18). doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noaf185.067 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Polwatta Lekamlage, S., Boix De Jesus, A. N., Machado Saraiva, A., Drummond, C., Dolan, H., March de Ribot, F., Royds, J. A., Mehta, S., Braithwaite, A. W., Hung, N. A., & Slatter, T. L. (2025). Δ133p53 isoform enhances TLR4 function to promote tumour growth. Carcinogenesis, 46(4), bgaf051. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgaf051 Journal - Research Article
Boix De Jesus, A. N., Taha, A., Wang, D., Mehta, P. M., Mehta, S., Reily-Bell, A., Polwatta Lekamlage, S., Machado Saraiva, A., Tahmeedzaman, T., … Royds, J., Braithwaite, A., Hung, N., & Slatter, T. L. (2023). Increased expression of the Δ133p53ß isoform enhances brain metastasis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24, 1267. doi: 10.3390/ijms24021267 Journal - Research Article
Polwatta, S. N., Boix De Jesús, A. N., Wang, D., Taha, A., Kazantseva, M., Zhou, J., Mehta, S., Saraiva, A. M., … Royds, J., … Braithwaite, A. W., Hung, N. A., & Slatter, T. L. (2022, August). The Δ 133p53 isoform enhances cell-surface trafficking to promote metastasis. Verbal presentation at the Cancer Satellite Meeting: Queenstown Research Week, Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Saraiva, A. M., Dias, G. J., & Grattan, D. R. (2019, September). Bone remodelling regulation during lactation: The role of prolactin and its receptors. Poster session presented at the Medical Sciences Congress (MedSci), Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)