PhD Global Excellence and Mobility Scholarship (GEMS 2026). Research Project: Precision blood-cell biomarkers for early prediction of severe dengue
Not stated
- Funding
- Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
- Application deadline
- 26 October 2026
About the project
About the Project We will establish a prospective dengue cohort at University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) to identify early blood-cell signatures predicting severe disease. Peripheral blood will be collected at first presentation; PBMCs and plasma will be processed and cryopreserved at JCSMHS/UMMC, with fresh-blood immunophenotyping (including neutrophils) performed in Kuala Lumpur. Cryopreserved samples will be sent to Melbourne for high-dimensional CyTOF and CITE-seq profiling. Data will be integrated using machine learning to develop a compact biomarker panel suitable for point-of-care diagnostics. Supported by LifeArc and a joint MUM–MUA clinical, immunology and bioinformatics team, this program delivers a validated predictive signature and industry-ready pipeline. This project is part of Monash University Malaysia’s Graduate Research Thematic Cluster, Predict-and-Prevent Severe Dengue: AI-Guided Multi-Omics & Natural-Compound Screening Ideal candidate will be recognized for prior experience in immunology and exposure to clinical or biobank-linked research, with competence in animal cell culture and core molecular biology techniques. Rigorous documentation, responsible data management, and clear scientific writing will be evidenced. Familiarity with basic analysis in R/Python will be preferred, and experience in omics-based data analysis will be considered an added advantage. Training and cross-site co-supervision with the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) will be provided. For enquiries, please contact Assoc. Professor Vinod Balasubramaniam For more information about this project, please visit our GEMS website. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How to Apply It is suggested that you first contact the main supervisor and provide them with your academic background and achievements to determine whether you are a 'fit' for this research topic. If you feel you are a good fit, submit your application here and ensure that you enter the same GEMS research topic as advertised on this webpage. To review the application requirements, please refer to our application submission guide . When submitting your application, please select the Global Excellence and Mobility Scholarship (GEMS). More information about GEMS is available here .