Dr Helen Forgham

Helen specialises in nanotheragnostics and gene modulating therapeutics

Helen's research is focused on the development of more effective, less toxic, nanoparticle led gene-based therapeutics. Gene dysregulation is a pathological driver of many diseases including cancer, and it is the ability to target dysregulated genes therapeutically that is the key to Helen's research. Her current works are focused towards the design and biological characterisation of hybrid material (polymer capped iron oxide, and polymer capped gold nanoparticles) as dual modality diagnostic and theraputic (theranostics) platforms that can be used to deliver short interference RNA (siRNA) to temporarily silence rouge gene expression, messenger RNA and DNA plasmids. The latter two are particularly in relation to delivery of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based technology which can permanently remove genes driving disease from a persons DNA. Using the superparamagnetic property and size of iron oxide nanoparticles allows for their potential utility as an alternative contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that may in the future provide a less toxic alternative to Gadolinium, which although the current gold standard imaging probe for MRI, promotes significant kidney-related side effects and toxic accumulation in the brain. Gold also has excellent diagnostic imaging properties and can be used as a contrast agent in conjunction with computer tomography (CT) where it works to enhance CT images.

Dr Helen Forgham completed her PhD in May 2020 at the Children's Cancer Institute (CCI) ,Sydney. Her PhD was on characterising polymer nanoparticles for delivery of siRNA to medulloblastoma. In June 2020, Helen was awarded early-career research (ECR) seed grant funding from the Centre for Oncology Education & Research Training (CONCERT) for a Chief Investigator role, performing innovative research leading to the identification of medulloblastoma specific micro-RNA biomarkers, in a project designed to take important early steps towards the development of a rapid, simple test to be used to precisely correlate chemotherapy treatment response in children suffering from medulloblastoma. In July 2021, Helen joined the Davis/Qiao groups at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), where she is a full-time researcher focusing on the design and characterisation of nanotheragnostics for the treatment of brain diseases, including brain cancers, as well as other aggressive cancers with a poor survival rate.

Industry

​Helen is currently not involved with industry. However, she has previously played an active role as a committee member for The Industry Partners (IPP) Program, set up by the CBNS network and chaired by Professor Kris Thurecht at AIBN. The emphasis of the IPP was to identify and/or creates opportunities to engage researchers from across the country with industry and commercial stakeholders.

Collaborations

​Helen's ongoing works involve collaborations with Professor Kris Thurecht at AIBN, University of Queensland, Pofessor Maria Kavallaris, Professor Justin Gooding, Associate Professor and clinical oncologist, David Zeigler, and Associate Professor Joshua McCarroll,  University of New South Wales.

Funding

​In June 2020, Helen was awarded ECR seed grant funding from the Centre for Oncology Education & Research Training (CONCERT) for a Chief Investigator role, performing innovative research leading to the identification of medulloblastoma specific micro-RNA biomarkers, in a project designed to take important early steps towards the development of a rapid, simple test to be used to precisely correlate chemotherapy treatment response in children suffering from medulloblastoma.

Key Publications

​Forgham H,  Liu L, Zhu J, Javed I, Cai W, Qiao R , Davis T P. Vector enabled CRISPR gene editing–A revolutionary strategy for targeting the diversity of brain pathologies. Coordination Chemistry Reviews (2023). 

Qiao R,  Fu C, Forgham H, Javed I, Huang X, Zhu J, Whittaker A K,  Davis T P. Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Brain Imaging and Drug Delivery. (2023).

Syed A A, Chung K, Forgham H, Olsen W P,  Kakinen A, Balaji A, Otzen D, Davis T P, Javed I. Alzheimer's Progenitor Amyloid‐β Targets and Dissolves Microbial Amyloids and Impairs Biofilm Function (2023).

Forgham H, Zhu J, Qiao R, and Davis T P. Star Polymer Nanomedicines – Challenges and Future Perspectives. ACS Applied Polymer Materials (2022). 

Forgham, H., Kakinen, A., Qiao, R., Davis, T. P. Keeping up with the COVID's—Could siRNA-based antivirals be a part of the answer? Exploration (2022).