Dr Tuba Nur Gide is a Postdoctoral Researcher at MIA based at Charles Perkins Centre at The University of Sydney. Get to know Tuba in and out of the lab as she answers our questions and gives us a glimpse into her work on developing predictive tools to allow personalised immunotherapy treatment for melanoma.

Can you summarise your latest research?

My current research focuses on the development and clinical implementation of a suite of predictive tests, integrating different properties of the tumour with a patient’s clinical characteristics to identify patients who will not benefit from the current standard-of-care immunotherapies and require treatment with a novel clinical trial agent. The results from this program highlight the utility of multi-omics models for predicting response to immunotherapy, enabling precision medicine in the clinical setting to enhance patient outcomes and identify novel drugs for patients in need.

These predictive models are currently being tested in the clinical setting at Melanoma Institute Australia through a prospective observational study, Personalised Immunotherapy Platform (PIP-PREDICT) (NCT06536257). Further details of the program can be found here: https://melanoma.org.au/personalised-immunotherapy-platform-pip/

In November 2024 Dr Tuba Nur Gide was a finalist in the 2024 AAMRI Rising Star Award, nominated for her research on ‘Developing a precision medicine tool to personalise immunotherapy treatment for melanoma’. Tuba explains her current research in the video below.

How did you get into melanoma research?

I completed my Honours research in breast cancer and knew that I wanted to continue on to do my PhD in the cancer field. As I was searching for potential labs, I reached out to Professor Richard Scolyer and Professor Georgina Long to inquire about potentially beginning a PhD at MIA, and the rest is history! When I first began my PhD here, many colleagues told me that it was the place to be and that there were many exciting advancements being made in the field of melanoma treatment, and this continues to be the case almost ten years later.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

The highlights of my career include publishing our biomarker discovery work in Cancer Cell in 2019 and our team being awarded the Wildfire Highly Cited Publication Award at the Cancer Institute NSW 2022 Premier’s Awards for this paper.

What is your favourite part of your work?

My favourite part of my work is collaborating and conversing with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise, always learning something new and different.

Do you have a nickname?

Yes! I have several nicknames amongst my friends and family including T, Tubee, and Bee.

Describe yourself in one word:

Patient.

What is your favourite movie?

Matilda.

What is a book you’ve recently enjoyed?

Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life – Héctor García, Francesc Miralles.