Andrea Polanowski BSc (Hons)

In 2000, at the University of Tasmania, I completed my Bachelor of Science degree with majors in Botany and Zoology.  I went on to do Honours in Zoology, looking at the feeding behaviour and genetic relatedness of the endangered sea star Patiriella vivipara.  

For the past five years I have been working at the Menzies Research Institute as a research assistant.  Initially I was working on Multiple Sclerosis projects, but the majority of my work has focused on prostate cancer.  A highlight of my work at the Menzies was helping to identify a novel prostate cancer susceptibility gene in the Tasmanian population.

I am looking forward to using my laboratory skills and experience to work on whale genetics.  I currently work for the Australian Marine Mammal Centre as a research assistant.

Selected publications

Eeles RA, Kote-Jarai Z, Al Olama AA, Giles GG, Guy M, Severi G, Muir K, Hopper JL, Henderson BE, Haiman CA, Schleutker J, Hamdy FC, Neal DE, Donovan JL, Stanford JL, Ostrander EA, Ingles SA, John EM, Thibodeau SN, Schaid D, Park JY, Spurdle A, Clements J, Dickinson JL, Maier C, Vogel W, Dörk T, Rebbeck TR, Cooney KA, Cannon-Albright L, Chappuis PO, Hutter P, Zeegers M, Kaneva R, Zhang HW, Lu YJ, Foulkes WD, English DR, Leongamornlert DA, Tymrakiewicz M, Morrison J, Ardern-Jones AT, Hall AL, O'Brien LT, Wilkinson RA, Saunders EJ, Page EC, Sawyer EJ, Edwards SM, Dearnaley DP, Horwich A, Huddart RA, Khoo VS, Parker CC, Van As N, Woodhouse CJ, Thompson A, Christmas T, Ogden C, Cooper CS, Southey MC, Lophatananon A, Liu JF, Kolonel LN, Le Marchand L, Wahlfors T, Tammela TL, Auvinen A, Lewis SJ, Cox A, FitzGerald LM, Koopmeiners JS, Karyadi DM, Kwon EM, Stern MC, Corral R, Joshi AD, Shahabi A, McDonnell SK, Sellers TA, Pow-Sang J, Chambers S, Aitken J, Gardiner RA, Batra J, Kedda MA, Lose F, Polanowski A, Patterson B, Serth J, Meyer A, Luedeke M, Stefflova K, Ray AM, Lange EM, Farnham J, Khan H, Slavov C, Mitkova A, Cao G. Identification of seven new prostate cancer susceptibility loci through a genome-wide association study. Nature genetics 41: 1116-21

Dickinson J, Perera D, Van der mei I, Ponsonby A-L, Polanowski A, Thomson R, Taylor B, McKay J, Stankovich J, Dwyer T (2009). Past environmental sun exposure and risk of multiple sclerosis: a role for the Cdx-2 vitamin d receptor variant in this interaction. Multiple Sclerosis 15(5):563-573.

Fitzgerald LM, Patterson B, Thomson R, Polanowski A, Quinn S, Brohede J, Thornton T, Challis D, Mackey DA, Dwyer T, Foote S, Hannan GN, Stankovich J, McKay J, Dickinson JL (2009). Identification of a prostate cancer susceptibility gene on chromosome 5p13q12 associated with risk of both familial and sporadic disease.  European Journal of Human Genetics 17(3):368-377.

Fitzgerald LM, Thomson R, Polanowski A, Patterson B, McKay JD, Stankovich J, Dickinson JL (2008). Sequence variants of a α-Methylacyl-CoA Racemase are associated with sporadic prostate cancer risk: a replication study in an ethnically homogenous population. Prostate 68:1373-1379.

Dwyer T, Van der mei I, Ponsonby A-L, Taylor BV, Stankovich J, McKay J, Thomson RJ, Polanowski A, Dickinson JL. (2008). Melanocortin 1 receptor genotype, past environmental sun exposure, and risk of multiple sclerosis (2008).  Neurology 19: 583-589.