UQCR Seminar Series - 4 August 2021: Dr Nayyar Hussain and Dr Eva Baxter

M3dicine – the electronic microscope Stethee
with Dr Nayyar Hussain

M3DICINE is a Brisbane based company that delivers healthcare solutions. Their electronic stethoscope, Stethee, is an IoT digital stethoscope that is FDA cleared along with its specialised algorithms, which provides clinical experts and medical professional with the ability to carry out mass screening of heart and lung disease using the latest advances in artificial intelligence. This presentation aims to highlight the various collaboration opportunities between M3DICINE and UQCCR, in democratising healthcare and advancing the next generation of IoT medical devices. The presentation will provide a brief introduction to M3DICINE and their device, Stethee, as well as research, publication and grant opportunities that can be leveraged to advance healthcare using this industry-academic partnership.

Identifying predictive biomarkers for progestin treatment of early-stage endometrial cancer
with Dr Eva Baxter

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynaecological cancer in women in Australia. Standard treatment is a hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Despite surgery being generally effective, two groups of patients are poor surgical candidates: (i) young women desiring pregnancy for whom surgery means an irrevocable loss of fertility (~10% of patients) and (ii) women who are elderly, obese and/or have multiple medical comorbidities (~55% of patients) who are at a higher risk of experiencing surgical complications. In these patients, progestins can be offered ad hoc as an alternative to surgery, however, there is currently no way of identifying who will respond to this treatment. This talk will provide an overview of the recently completed feMMe clinical trial (NCT01686126) which explored the use of a progestin intrauterine device in women with early-stage endometrial cancer as an alternative to surgery. Specimens were collected from trial participants to identify predictive biomarkers for response to treatment and preliminary results will be presented.