Research officer, Medical Genomics
QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
My research addressed the challenges related to key genomic components in tumour-immune editing variation in cancers with poor survival and predicting the responses to cancer immunotherapies. Characterizing genomic determinants in underlying response and resistance to cancer immunotherapy. Through whole genome and RNA sequencing, we identify tumor specific neoantigens that can elicit T-cell responses in cancers. Through established Immunogenomics analysis on different cancer types, we aim to explore the genomics of tumor cells and the properties of immune cells in the tumour microenvironment. Through further research, we uncover how tumours may prevent immune attack and why. We seek to better understand the tumour microenvironment and how it may contribute towards tumour growth. Lastly, we can uncover new techniques in patients screening to see who would benefit most from immunotherapies during the treatment of their disease.
In my PhD I established cancer immunogenomics analysis pipeline, to understand tumour heterogeneity in intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms across cancer types. This work extends knowledge and lays the foundation that is required in order to successfully establish computational methods that can be used to predict patient immunotherapy responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Journal Article: Computational immunogenomic approaches to predict response to cancer immunotherapies
Addala, Venkateswar, Newell, Felicity, Pearson, John V., Redwood, Alec, Robinson, Bruce W., Creaney, Jenette and Waddell, Nicola (2023). Computational immunogenomic approaches to predict response to cancer immunotherapies. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, 21 (1), 28-46. doi: 10.1038/s41571-023-00830-6
Lonie, James M., Brosda, Sandra, Bonazzi, Vanessa F., Aoude, Lauren G., Patel, Kalpana, Brown, Ian, Sharma, Sowmya, Lampe, Guy, Addala, Venkateswar, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Wood, Scott, Waddell, Nicola, Dolcetti, Riccardo and Barbour, Andrew P. (2023). The oesophageal adenocarcinoma tumour immune microenvironment dictates outcomes with different modalities of neoadjuvant therapy – results from the AGITG DOCTOR trial and the cancer evolution biobank. Frontiers in Immunology, 14 1220129, 1-15. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1220129
Journal Article: Performance of tumour microenvironment deconvolution methods in breast cancer using single-cell simulated bulk mixtures
Tran, Khoa A., Addala, Venkateswar, Johnston, Rebecca L., Lovell, David, Bradley, Andrew, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Wood, Scott, Wu, Sunny Z., Roden, Daniel, Al-Eryani, Ghamdan, Swarbrick, Alexander, Williams, Elizabeth D., Pearson, John V., Kondrashova, Olga and Waddell, Nicola (2023). Performance of tumour microenvironment deconvolution methods in breast cancer using single-cell simulated bulk mixtures. Nature Communications, 14 (1) 5758, 1-17. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41385-5
Computational immunogenomic approaches to predict response to cancer immunotherapies
Addala, Venkateswar, Newell, Felicity, Pearson, John V., Redwood, Alec, Robinson, Bruce W., Creaney, Jenette and Waddell, Nicola (2023). Computational immunogenomic approaches to predict response to cancer immunotherapies. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, 21 (1), 28-46. doi: 10.1038/s41571-023-00830-6
Lonie, James M., Brosda, Sandra, Bonazzi, Vanessa F., Aoude, Lauren G., Patel, Kalpana, Brown, Ian, Sharma, Sowmya, Lampe, Guy, Addala, Venkateswar, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Wood, Scott, Waddell, Nicola, Dolcetti, Riccardo and Barbour, Andrew P. (2023). The oesophageal adenocarcinoma tumour immune microenvironment dictates outcomes with different modalities of neoadjuvant therapy – results from the AGITG DOCTOR trial and the cancer evolution biobank. Frontiers in Immunology, 14 1220129, 1-15. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1220129
Tran, Khoa A., Addala, Venkateswar, Johnston, Rebecca L., Lovell, David, Bradley, Andrew, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Wood, Scott, Wu, Sunny Z., Roden, Daniel, Al-Eryani, Ghamdan, Swarbrick, Alexander, Williams, Elizabeth D., Pearson, John V., Kondrashova, Olga and Waddell, Nicola (2023). Performance of tumour microenvironment deconvolution methods in breast cancer using single-cell simulated bulk mixtures. Nature Communications, 14 (1) 5758, 1-17. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41385-5
Chitty, Jessica L., Yam, Michelle, Perryman, Lara, Parker, Amelia L., Skhinas, Joanna N., Setargew, Yordanos F. I., Mok, Ellie T. Y., Tran, Emmi, Grant, Rhiannon D., Latham, Sharissa L., Pereira, Brooke A., Ritchie, Shona C., Murphy, Kendelle J., Trpceski, Michael, Findlay, Alison D., Melenec, Pauline, Filipe, Elysse C., Nadalini, Audrey, Velayuthar, Sipiththa, Major, Gretel, Wyllie, Kaitlin, Papanicolaou, Michael, Ratnaseelan, Shivanjali, Phillips, Phoebe A., Sharbeen, George, Youkhana, Janet, Russo, Alice, Blackwell, Antonia, Hastings, Jordan F. ... Cox, Thomas R. (2023). A first-in-class pan-lysyl oxidase inhibitor impairs stromal remodeling and enhances gemcitabine response and survival in pancreatic cancer. Nature Cancer, 4 (9), 1326-1344. doi: 10.1038/s43018-023-00614-y
Kojic, Marija, Maybury, Mellissa K., Waddell, Nicola, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Addala, Venkateswar, Millar, Amanda, Wood, Scott, Pearson, John V., Hansford, Jordan R., Hassall, Tim and Wainwright, Brandon J. (2023). Efficient detection and monitoring of pediatric brain malignancies with liquid biopsy based on patient-specific somatic mutation screening. Neuro-Oncology, 25 (8), 1507-1517. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noad032
M. Naeini, Marjan, Newell, Felicity, Aoude, Lauren G., Bonazzi, Vanessa F., Patel, Kalpana, Lampe, Guy, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Lakis, Vanessa, Addala, Venkateswar, Kondrashova, Olga, Johnston, Rebecca L., Sharma, Sowmya, Brosda, Sandra, Holmes, Oliver, Leonard, Conrad, Wood, Scott, Xu, Qinying, Thomas, Janine, Walpole, Euan, Tao Mai, G., Ackland, Stephen P., Martin, Jarad, Burge, Matthew, Finch, Robert, Karapetis, Christos S., Shannon, Jenny, Nott, Louise, Bohmer, Robert, Wilson, Kate ... Waddell, Nicola (2023). Multi-omic features of oesophageal adenocarcinoma in patients treated with preoperative neoadjuvant therapy. Nature Communications, 14 (1) 3155, 3155. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38891-x
Generalising uncertainty improves accuracy and safety of deep learning analytics applied to oncology
MacDonald, Samual, Foley, Helena, Yap, Melvyn, Johnston, Rebecca L., Steven, Kaiah, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Sharma, Sowmya, Wood, Scott, Addala, Venkateswar, Pearson, John V., Roosta, Fred, Waddell, Nicola, Kondrashova, Olga and Trzaskowski, Maciej (2023). Generalising uncertainty improves accuracy and safety of deep learning analytics applied to oncology. Scientific Reports, 13 (1) 7395, 1-14. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-31126-5
Ramarao-Milne, P, Kondrashova, O, Patch, A-M, Nones, K, Koufariotis, L T, Newell, F, Addala, V, Lakis, V, Holmes, O, Leonard, C, Wood, S, Xu, Q, Mukhopadhyay, P, Naeini, M M, Steinfort, D, Williamson, J P, Bint, M, Pahoff, C, Nguyen, P T, Twaddell, S, Arnold, D, Grainge, C, Basirzadeh, F, Fielding, D, Dalley, A J, Chittoory, H, Simpson, P T, Aoude, L G, Bonazzi, V F ... Waddell, N (2022). Comparison of actionable events detected in cancer genomes by whole-genome sequencing, in silico whole-exome and mutation panels. ESMO Open, 7 (4) 100540, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.esmoop.2022.100540
Creaney, Jenette, Patch, Ann-Marie, Addala, Venkateswar, Sneddon, Sophie A., Nones, Katia, Dick, Ian M., Lee, Y. C. Gary, Newell, Felicity, Rouse, Ebony J., Naeini, Marjan M., Kondrashova, Olga, Lakis, Vanessa, Nakas, Apostolos, Waller, David, Sharkey, Annabel, Mukhopadhyay, Pamela, Kazakoff, Stephen H., Koufariotis, Lambros T., Davidson, Aimee L., Ramarao-Milne, Priya, Holmes, Oliver, Xu, Qinying, Leonard, Conrad, Wood, Scott, Grimmond, Sean M., Bueno, Raphael, Fennell, Dean A., Pearson, John V., Robinson, Bruce W. and Waddell, Nicola (2022). Comprehensive genomic and tumour immune profiling reveals potential therapeutic targets in malignant pleural mesothelioma. Genome Medicine, 14 (1) 58, 1-18. doi: 10.1186/s13073-022-01060-8
Li, Xian-Yang, Das, Indrajit, Lepletier, Ailin, Addala, Venkateswar, Bald, Tobias, Stannard, Kimberley, Barkauskas, Deborah, Liu, Jing, Aguilera, Amelia Roman, Takeda, Kazuyoshi, Braun, Matthias, Nakamura, Kyohei, Jacquelin, Sebastien, Lane, Steven W., Teng, Michele Wl, Dougall, William C. and Smyth, Mark J. (2022). Erratum: CD155 loss enhances tumor suppression via combined host and tumor-intrinsic mechanisms (The Journal of clinical investigation PII: e159825). Journal of Clinical Investigation, 132 (6) e159825. doi: 10.1172/JCI159825
Newell, Felicity, Pires da Silva, Ines, Johansson, Peter A., Menzies, Alexander M., Wilmott, James S., Addala, Venkateswar, Carlino, Matteo S., Rizos, Helen, Nones, Katia, Edwards, Jarem J., Lakis, Vanessa, Kazakoff, Stephen H., Mukhopadhyay, Pamela, Ferguson, Peter M., Leonard, Conrad, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Wood, Scott, Blank, Christian U., Thompson, John F., Spillane, Andrew J., Saw, Robyn P.M., Shannon, Kerwin F., Pearson, John V., Mann, Graham J., Hayward, Nicholas K., Scolyer, Richard A., Waddell, Nicola and Long, Georgina V. (2022). Multiomic profiling of checkpoint inhibitor-treated melanoma: Identifying predictors of response and resistance, and markers of biological discordance. Cancer Cell, 40 (1), 88-102.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2021.11.012
Genomic and molecular analyses identify molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer recurrence
Dreyer, Stephan B., Upstill-Goddard, Rosie, Legrini, Assya, Biankin, Andrew V., Allison, Sarah, Beraldi, Dario, Cameron, Euan, Chang, David K., Cooke, Susanna L., Cunningham, Richard, Dreyer, Stephan, Grimwood, Paul, Kelly, Shane, Marshall, John, McDade, Brian, Musgrove, Elizabeth A., Ramsay, Donna, Evers, Lisa, Rebus, Selma, Rahib, Lola, Serrels, Bryan, Jamieson, Nigel B., McKay, Colin J., Westwood, Paul, Williams, Nicola, Duthie, Fraser, Shen, William, Pea, Antonio, Johns, Amber L. ... Bassi, Claudio (2022). Genomic and molecular analyses identify molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer recurrence. Gastroenterology, 162 (1), 320-324. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2021.09.022
Lakis, Vanessa, Lawlor, Rita T., Newell, Felicity, Patch, Ann-Marie, Mafficini, Andrea, Sadanandam, Anguraj, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Johnston, Rebecca L., Leonard, Conrad, Wood, Scott, Rusev, Borislav, Corbo, Vincenzo, Luchini, Claudio, Cingarlini, Sara, Landoni, Luca, Salvia, Roberto, Milella, Michele, Chang, David, Bailey, Peter, Jamieson, Nigel B., Duthie, Fraser, Gingras, Marie-Claude, Muzny, Donna M., Wheeler, David A., Gibbs, Richard A., Milione, Massimo, Chantrill, Lorraine A., Timpson, Paul, Chou, Angela ... Scarpa, Aldo (2021). DNA methylation patterns identify subgroups of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors with clinical association. Communications Biology, 4 (1) 155, 1-11. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01469-0
ROR1 and ROR2 expression in pancreatic cancer
Liu, Dongli, Sharbeen, George, Phillips, Phoebe, Johns, Amber L., Gill, Anthony J., Chantrill, Lorraine A., Timpson, Paul, Chou, Angela, Pajic, Marina, Dwarte, Tanya, Herrmann, David, Vennin, Claire, Cox, Thomas R., Pereira, Brooke, Ritchie, Shona, Reed, Daniel A., Chambers, Cecilia R., Metcalf, Xanthe, Nobis, Max, Waddell, Nicola, Pearson, John V., Patch, Ann-Marie, Nones, Katia, Newell, Felicity, Mukhopadhyay, Pamela, Addala, Venkateswar, Kazakoff, Stephen, Holmes, Oliver, Leonard, Conrad ... Ford, Caroline E. (2021). ROR1 and ROR2 expression in pancreatic cancer. BMC Cancer, 21 (1) 1199. doi: 10.1186/s12885-021-08952-9
Whole-genome sequencing of acral melanoma reveals genomic complexity and diversity
Newell, Felicity, Wilmott, James S., Johansson, Peter A., Nones, Katia, Addala, Venkateswar, Mukhopadhyay, Pamela, Broit, Natasa, Amato, Carol M., Van Gulick, Robert, Kazakoff, Stephen H., Patch, Ann-Marie, Koufariotis, Lambros T., Lakis, Vanessa, Leonard, Conrad, Wood, Scott, Holmes, Oliver, Xu, Qinying, Lewis, Karl, Medina, Theresa, Gonzalez, Rene, Saw, Robyn P. M., Spillane, Andrew J., Stretch, Jonathan R., Rawson, Robert V., Ferguson, Peter M., Dodds, Tristan J., Thompson, John F., Long, Georgina V., Levesque, Mitchell P. ... Hayward, Nicholas K. (2020). Whole-genome sequencing of acral melanoma reveals genomic complexity and diversity. Nature Communications, 11 (1) 5259, 5259. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18988-3
Apert's syndrome: study by whole exome sequencing
Munshi, Anjana, Khetarpal, Preeti, Das, Satrupa, Rao, Venkateshwar, Valecha, Monica, Bansal, Manita and Kumar, Roshan (2018). Apert's syndrome: study by whole exome sequencing. Genes and Diseases, 5 (2), 119-122. doi: 10.1016/j.gendis.2017.07.008
Germline and somatic variant identification using BGISEQ-500 and HiSeq X Ten whole genome sequencing
Patch, Ann-Marie, Nones, Katia, Kazakoff, Stephen H., Newell, Felicity, Wood, Scott, Leonard, Conrad, Holmes, Oliver, Xu, Qinying, Addala, Venkateswar, Creaney, Jenette, Robinson, Bruce W., Fu, Shujin, Geng, Chunyu, Li, Tong, Zhang, Wenwei, Liang, Xinming, Rao, Junhua, Wang, Jiahao, Tian, Mingyu, Zhao, Yonggang, Teng, Fei, Gou, Honglan, Yang, Bicheng, Jiang, Hui, Mu, Feng, Pearson, John V. and Waddell, Nicola (2018). Germline and somatic variant identification using BGISEQ-500 and HiSeq X Ten whole genome sequencing. PloS One, 13 (1) e0190264, e0190264. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190264
Identification of unique neoantigen qualities in long-term survivors of pancreatic cancer
Balachandran, Vinod P., Łuksza, Marta, Zhao, Julia N., Makarov, Vladimir, Moral, John Alec, Remark, Romain, Herbst, Brian, Askan, Gokce, Bhanot, Umesh, Senbabaoglu, Yasin, Wells, Daniel K., Cary, Charles Ian Ormsby, Grbovic-Huezo, Olivera, Attiyeh, Marc, Medina, Benjamin, Zhang, Jennifer, Loo, Jennifer, Saglimbeni, Joseph, Abu-Akeel, Mohsen, Zappasodi, Roberta, Riaz, Nadeem, Smoragiewicz, Martin, Larkin Kelley, Z., Basturk, Olca, Gönen, Mithat, Levine, Arnold J., Allen, Peter J., Fearon, Douglas T., Merad, Miriam ... Bassi, Claudio (2017). Identification of unique neoantigen qualities in long-term survivors of pancreatic cancer. Nature, 551 (7681), 512-516. doi: 10.1038/nature24462
Dadheech, Sneha, Rao, A. Venkateswara, Shaheen, Uzma, Hussien, Mohammed Dyia, Jain, Suman, Jyothy, A. and Munshi, Anjana (2013). Three most common nonsynonymous UGT1A6*2 polymorphisms (Thr181Ala, Arg184Ser and Ser7Ala) and therapeutic response to deferiprone in β-thalassemia major patients. Gene, 531 (2), 301-5. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2013.08.078
Therapeutic Opportunity in Cancers with Poor Survival
Addala, Venkateswara (2020). Therapeutic Opportunity in Cancers with Poor Survival. PhD Thesis, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/9fd77b2
Complex neoantigen prediction in cancers
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.