Dr Heloisa Zaccaron Milioli
Dr Heloisa Milioli is a Senior Research Officer in Christine Chaffer’s Laboratory at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. She integrates molecular biology and computational approaches to investigate the complex mechanisms driving breast cancer development, progression and metastasis. Her research focuses on non-genetic mechanisms governing cell state plasticity and therapy resistance. Her work has been supported by Cancer Institute NSW (2018–2020, Early Career Fellowship), Cancer Council NSW (2023–2026), Tour de Cure (2024) and others. Her research on the context-dependent role of the androgen receptor (AR) in both primary and resistant breast cancer—published in Nature Medicine, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and MedRxiv—has helped shape ongoing clinical trials (NCT02463032, NCT04947189), underscoring her commitment to improving outcomes for cancer patients in Australia and worldwide.
* Eligible to supervise Honours, Master and PhD students.
Grants and Funding:
- Tour de Cure (CI, AUD $50,000): 2024
Exploiting mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance: new strategies to cure cancer
- Cancer Council NSW (CI, AUD $370,000): 2023 - 2025
Targeting cellular plasticity to prevent and treat chemotherapy-resistant disease
- Cancer Clinical Academic Group E/MCR Seed Grant Scheme (AI, AUD $50,000): 2020
Targeting FGF fusions in previously untreatable cancers: A new OMICS approach for personalised cancer medicine
- National Breast Cancer Foundation (CI-B, AUD $200,000): 2019 - 2020
Targeting the p53 pathway in the age of CDK4/6 inhibitor resistant ER positive breast cancer
- National Breast Cancer Foundation (AI, AUD $600,000): 2019 - 2021
Therapeutic targeting of dual CDK4/6 inhibitor and endocrine resistant breast cancer
- Cancer Institute NSW - Early Career Fellowship (CI, AUD $600,000): 2018 - 2020
Expanding the repertoire of therapies targeting sex steroid receptors in breast cancer
Awards
- 2024St Vincent’s Research Week - Best Poster Award (EMCR). Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2022Estee Lauder Breast Cancer Award (AUD $10 - 000). Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2018Garvan Institute of Medical Research Travel Grant (AUD $1 - 000). EMCR Forum 2018. Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2016EMBL Australia PhD Travel Grant (AUD $3 - 000) - 18th EMBL PhD Symposium in Heildeberg - Germany. Australia
- 2016Young Scientist Award - 2nd World Congress on Controversies in Breast Cancer (CoBrCA). Barcelona - Spain
- 2015Bioinfosummer 2015 Travel Bursary (AUD $500) - Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) - Australia
- 2015BioInfoSummer 2015 - Best Poster Award. Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2015Hunter Cancer Research Alliance (HCRA) PhD RESEARCH AWARD 2016 (AUD $5 - 000). Newcastle NSW - Australia
- 2015Hunter Cancer Research Alliance (HCRA) Travel Grant (AUD $1 - 000). Newcastle NSW - Australia
- 2014BioInfoSummer 2014 - Best Poster Presentation. Melbourne VIC - Australia
- 2014International Conference on Bioinformatics (InCoB) - Best Poster Award. Sydney NSW - Australia
- 2014JENNIE THOMAS MEDICAL RESEARCH Travel Grant (AUD $10 - 000) - Hunter Medical Research Institute. Newcastle NSW - Australia
Education
- 2008Bachelor of Science (Bachelor of Science (B.S))Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil
- 2011Master of Science (Master of Science (M.S))Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Brazil
- 2017Doctor of Philosophy (Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D))University of Newcastle, Australia
Selected publications
See all publications- 2024IScience10.1016/j.isci.2024.110116
Increased prevalence of hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal state and enhanced phenotypic heterogeneity in basal breast cancer.
- 2023BioRxiv : The Preprint Server for Biology10.1101/2023.09.30.558960
Multi-modal transcriptomic analysis unravels enrichment of hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal state and enhanced phenotypic heterogeneity in basal breast cancer.