Ms Maryam Hor

Maryam is a Research Projects Officer in the Molecular Diagnostic Solutions within Nutrition & Health Program at Kintore Ave.
Her current research focus is with the South Australian Neurodegeneration, nutrition and DNA Damage study (SAND) to identify early biomarkers of cognitive decline using saliva, buccal cells and blood and to develop a minimally invasive approach to identify protein biomarkers in individuals of increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

Expertise and research focus over the years:

• Demonstrated skills working with human study participants, recruit volunteers, collect samples (blood and saliva buccal etc), form good working relationships with a broad range of collaborators and colleagues, manage patient confidentiality and data as required by HREC and NHMRC National Statement.

• Skills in molecular biology; DNA and RNA extraction, genotyping techniques and quantitative PCR, multiplex ELISA and Immunohistochemistry

• Within the field of diagnostic Cytogenetics in preparation, and analysis of chromosomes in peripheral bloods, chorionic villi biopsies, amniotic fluids, bone marrow, and products of conception from human patients for cytogenetic analysis.

• Cytokinesis-Blocking Micronucleus (CBMN) assay, with different tissues and conditions. The CBMN assay in peripheral blood lymphocytes has been the most frequently used method in biomonitoring human populations, to evaluate DNA damage caused by exposure to genotoxic agents, micronutrient deficiency, excess and genetic instability, cancer risk and other age-related degenerative diseases.

• Micronucleus cytome assay in buccal exfoliated cells which provides a complementary method for measuring DNA damage and cytotoxic effects in an easily accessible tissue not requiring ex vivo/in vitro culture.

• Skills in data management processes that includes acquiring, validating, storing, protecting, and processing required data to ensure the accessibility, reliability, and timeliness of the data. I have created and maintained computer data base, including the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) web-based application to ensure data is readily available for statistical analysis.

• Isolation and purification of cells from bovine testis to define the physical and micronutrient culture conditions required for optimal growth and genome health of cultured germ cells.

• Automated image analysis for DNA damage markers in binucleated cytokinesis blocked lymphocytes namely the MNScore software system for the Metafer™ slide-scoring module (Metasystems) as well as the PathFinder™ Cellscan™ system (IMSTAR) which have been developed, tested and validated for our laboratory.