Elizabeth Webb

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2009 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar

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“Of all the varieties of skin cancer, melanoma is the most aggressive and least treatable. An early diagnosis can mean the difference between an 18 per cent survival rate and a 99 per cent survival rate.”

Elizabeth Webb, currently a biochemistry student at the Washington and Lee University in Virginia, has been awarded a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission.

Elizabeth will spend 10 months at the Institute of Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland conducting research with Dr Richard Sturm. She will explore a possible connection between one of the genes that control the type and extent of hair and skin pigmentation and malignant melanoma.  The gene in question is called the KITLG gene, and recent research suggests it determines whether a person inherits blond or brown hair.

“The discovery of the connection between the KITLG gene and human pigmentation is so recent that many different variations of the gene remain unexplored,” Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth will be one of the first to search for correlations between specific variations of this pigmentation gene and melanoma risk.

“Malignant melanoma is the most rapidly increasing cancer in Caucasians, as the incidence of the disease has tripled over the past 40 years. Queensland has reported the highest incidence of melanoma in the world, with 56 new cases out of every 100,000 men annually and 43 new cases for women.”

“Early diagnosis is crucial to improving the survival rates of this disease.”

“If, indeed, certain variations of the KITLG gene are significantly related to advanced stages of skin cancer, it may prove important to predicting melanoma risk.”

Elizabeth has been a Cancer Research Fellow at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, won several academic excellence awards including the James D. Davidson Memorial Fund Scholarship and the James Keith Shillington Scholarship. She is a keen athlete and has won accolades in track and cross-country running.

Elizabeth is one of 19 American Fulbright Scholars travelling to Australia in 2009/2010.