PhD student, Lara Graves, won the best oral presentation prize in the Adrenal and HPA axis category for her preliminary work at the 2023 International Meeting of Paediatric Endocrinology in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She impressed the international audience with her data on the murine single cell transcriptome in 21-hydroxylase deficiency. 

21-hydroxylase deficiency is the most common cause of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). CAH is a group of disorders that affect how the adrenal glands work. Infants with the more severe forms can experience excessive loss of salt in their urine, which can be serious. By diving into what’s happening inside individual cells affected by this condition, Lara was able to make new discoveries that will improve understanding of these disorders.

When we asked Lara about her experiences using CMRI’s Research Facilities, she said, “The CMRI’s Single Cell Analytics Facility was critical in this research. I’d like to thank Hilary Knowles who was a part of CMRI’s Single Cell Analytics Facility for her help on this project, and Nader Aryamanesh in the Bioinformatics Facility. Both have worked with me to extract and analyse information from my samples to produce cutting edge results and new knowledge. There’s even more I have not tapped into, and I am so glad to have had their expertise behind me.”

To get a flavour for what’s possible with 10X transcriptomics technology, here are some publications. Reach out to Megan Weatherstone, Single Cell Analytics Facility Lead, if you’d like to know more:  singlecellanalytics@cmri.org.au