Dr Alexander is a mid-career biomedical scientist with a strong foundation in translational cancer research. She holds several honorary titles, including Adjunct Senior Lecturer in School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney, Senior Research Officer at the Neuropathology Department of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and Medical Oncology Department at Royal North Shore Hospital. She works across campuses with multiple brain cancer sub-specialty departments, clinical trials and academic research facilities. Dr Alexander is a Chief Investigator on grants totalling $9.81M, including national Medical Research Future Fund schemes and career fellowships from the NSW Office of Health and Medical Research (2024-2027), Cancer Institute NSW (2013-2018) and NHMRC (2011-2015).

Dr Alexander graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons Class I, Neuropathology) at the University of Sydney in 2003. She has contributed to the field of clinical proteomics since 2004, publishing some of the first human brain tissue studies in 2006. She completed an internship at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan in 2006 and was awarded a PhD in Medicine (Neuropathology) in 2008, for which she received Sydney University’s ‘Bercovici Prize for Excellence in Medical Research’ as well as the ‘Bannigan Prize for the Best PhD in Neuroscience’ from the Nerve Research Foundation.

Her promise as a future leader in cancer research has been recognised by three career support grants, including an NHMRC Australian Biomedical Fellowship (2011-2015), Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Research Fellowship (2014-2018), and Advanced Therapeutics Impact Mid-Career Fellowship from the NSW Office of Health and Medical Research (2024-2027). She has received multiple speaking invitations and has presented at numerous National and International conferences, receiving several grants and presentation awards.

Supervisor of postgraduate and undergraduate research students in PhD, Masters and Honours degree programs.

Kim has supervised 5 PhD students (including 4 completions) and was primary supervisor of the University Medal BMedSc(Hon I) recipient in 2016.

Dr Alexander leads an established, internationally recognised glioblastoma extracellular vesicle (EV) research program. Her research team has innovated multi-omic analytical pipelines to profile EVs captured from surgical fluid, blood and urine. Multianalyte EV molecular profiles are used to develop routine, non-invasive liquid biopsies for diagnosing, monitoring, and guiding therapeutic decisions for glioma patients. Her research first demonstrated that glioblastoma could be accurately diagnosed pre-operatively using protein and small RNA signatures in EVs captured from patients’ blood.

Dr Alexander is the coordinating Principal Investigator and co-Lead of the multi-site Sydney Brain Tumour Bank, an extensive brain tumour specimen and data collection. Her experience with surgical and post-mortem brain tissue biobanking and building cohorts for translational research is extensive, spanning two decades. In 2020, she launched the ‘GlioNET Observational Study’ to build a targeted, serial biospecimen collection, a repository that now includes 2600+ cryovials from 250 glioblastoma patients in the Sydney Brain Tumour Bank. This sizeable longitudinal blood and urine collection is of international significance and vital to developing liquid biopsies.

Under her leadership, the Sydney Brain Tumour Bank has provided cohorts of high-quality brain tumour specimens and clinical information to facilitate multiple research projects, including collaborative glioma research here in Australian and internationally.

Dr Alexander is the Biomarker Program Lead of the Australian Brain Cancer Research Alliance (ABCARA), and a member of the Cooperative Trials Group for NeuroOncology (COGNO), Brain Cancer Australia and the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV).

Journal Articles:

K49       Palethorpe H.M., … Alexander K.L. et al., An optimized explant organoid method for preclinical brain tumor research, Cell Reports Methods [sneak peek, preview paper under review] 2024

K48        Loh C., … Alexander K.L.., et al., “Microglia and brain macrophages are differentially associated with tumor necrosis in glioblastoma: A link to tumor progression” Oncology Research 2024

K47        Akbari, H. et al., Machine Learning-based prognostic subgrouping of glioblastoma: a multi-center study. NeuroOncology [ACCEPTED] 2024

K46        Hallal S, Sida L, Tűzesi CA, Shivalingam B, Sim HS, Buckland M, Satgunaseelan L and Alexander KL “Size matters: Biomolecular compositions of small and large extracellular vesicles in the urine of glioblastoma patients” J Extracell Biology 2(11):e70021 2024

K45        Gongala S, Garcia JA, Korakavi N, Patil N, Akbari H, Sloan A, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Sun J, Griffith B, Poisson LM, Booth TC, Jain R, Mohan S, Nasralla MP, Bakas S, Tippareddy C, Puig J, Palmer JD, Shi W, Colen RR, Sotiras A, Ahn SS, Park YW, Davatzikos C, Badve C. “Sex-Specific Differences in Patients with IDH1-Wild-Type Grade 4 Glioma in the ReSPOND Consortium (K.L. Alexander)”.  American Journal of Neuroradiology 2024 Sep 9;45(9):1299-1307

K44        L. Satgunaseelan, M. Lee, S. Iannuzzi, S. Hallal, K. Deang, K. Stanceski, G. Wei, S. Mason, B. Shivalingam, H. Sim, M.E. Buckland and K.L. Alexander, “’The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’ – evaluating the effect of necrosis on MGMT promoter methylation testing in high-grade glioma” Cancers Special Issue, Molecular Pathology of Brain Tumors 2024 Cancers 16(10), 1906

K43        S.M. Hallal, Á. Tűzesi, L.A. Sida, E. Xian, D. Madani, K. Muralidharan, B. Shivalingam, M.E. Buckland, L. Satgunaseelan and K.L. Alexander, “Glioblastoma biomarkers in urinary extracellular vesicles reveal the potential for a ‘liquid gold’ biopsy” British Journal of Cancer 2024

K42        Welsh JA, Goberdhan DCI, and O’Driscoll L, … K.L. Alexander … et al. “Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): from basic to advanced approaches.” Journal of Extracellular Vesicles. 13(2):e12404 2024

K41        L. Satgunaseelan, J. Sy, B. Shivalingam, H. Sim, K.L. Alexander and M.E. Buckland, “Prognostic and predictive biomarkers in CNS tumours” Pathology 56(2):158-69 2024

K40        M.D Lee, S.H Patel, S. Mohan, H. Akbari, …, C. Davatzikos, R. Jain and RESPOND Consortium (K.L. Alexander), “Association of partial T2-FLAIR mismatch sign and isocitrate dehydrogenase mutation in WHO grade 4 gliomas: results from the ReSPOND consortium” Neuroradiology 651343-1352 2023

K39        Á Tűzesi, S Hallal, L Satgunaseelan, ME Buckland and K. L. Alexander “Understanding the Epitranscriptome for Avant-Garde Brain Tumour Diagnostics” Cancers 15 (4), 1232 2023

K38        C Shard, KL Alexander, HK Gan, GA Gomez “Genetic evolution and cellular interactions within the tumour microenvironment determine glioblastoma progression” F1000Research 12 (52), 2023

K37        S. Hallal, A. Tuzesi, G.E. Grau, M.E. Buckland and K.L. Alexander “Understanding the extracellular vesicle for clinical molecular biology” Journal of Extracellular Vesicles 2022

K36        I. Alzoubi, G. Buo, R. Zhang, C. Loh, Y. Zheng, S. Cherepanoff, G. Gracie, M. Lee, M. Kugligowski, K.L. Alexander, M.E. Buckland, X. Wang and M.B Graeber “An open-source AI framework for the analysis of single cells in whole-slide images with a note on CD276 in glioblastoma” Cancers 14(14), 3441 2022

K35        C.P. Griffin, C.L. Paul, K.L. Alexander, M.M. Walker, H. Hondermarck, J. Lynam “Post-mortem brain donations vs pre-mortem surgical resections for glioblastoma research: viewing the matter as a whole” Neuro-Oncology Advances 4(1), vdab168 2022

KK34      S. Hallal, S. Ebrahimkhani, H. Wei, M. Lee,  H. Sim, J. Sy, B. Shivalingam, M.E. Buckland and K.L. Alexander-Kaufman “Deep sequencing of small RNAs from neurosurgical extracellular vesicles substantiates miR-486-3p as a circulating biomarker that distinguishes glioblastoma from lower-grade astrocytoma patients” International Journal of Molecular Science 2020.

KK33      S. Hallal, A. Azimi, H. Wei, N. Ho, M. Lee, H. Sim, J. Sy, B. Shivalingam, M.E. Buckland and K.L. Alexander-Kaufman “A comprehensive proteomics SWATH-MS workflow for profiling blood extracellular vesicles reveals an exciting new avenue for glioma tumour surveillance” International Journal of Molecular Science 2020

KK32      A. Azimi, K.L. Kaufman, J. Kim, M. Ali, G.J. Mann and P. Fenandez-Penas, “Proteomics: an emerging approach for the diagnosis and classification of squamous cell carcinomas and its precursors” Journal of Dermatological Science 2020. Cit=1

KK31      A. Azimi, P. Yang, V. Howard, G.J. Mann, K.L. Kaufman and P. Fernandez-Penas, “Data independent acquisition proteomics analysis can discriminate between actinic keratosis, Bowen’s disease and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma” Journal of Investigative Dermatology doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2019.06.128. 2020.

KK30      S. Hallal, S. Ebrahimkhani, B. Shivalingam, M. Graeber, M.E. Buckland and K.L. Kaufman, “The emerging clinical potential of circulating extracellular vesicles for non-invasive glioma diagnosis and disease monitoring” Brain Tumor Pathology 2019

KK29      S. Hallal, D.M. Mallawaaratchy, H. Wei, S. Ebrahimkhani, B.W. Stringer, B.W. Day, A.W. Boyd, G.J. Guillemin, M.E. Buckland and K.L. Kaufman, “Extracellular vesicles released by glioblastoma cells stimulate normal astrocytes to acquire a tumor-supportive phenotype via p53 and MYC signaling pathway” Molecular Neurobiology, 2019

KK28      S. Ebrahimkhani, F. Vafaee, S. Hallal, H. Wei, M.Y.T. Lee, P.E. Young, L. Satgunaseelan, H. Beadnall, M.H. Barnett, B. Shivalingam, C.M. Suter, M.E. Buckland and K.L. Kaufman, “Deep sequencing of circulating exosomal microRNA allows non-invasive glioblastoma diagnosis” npj Precision Oncology 2018. KK27      S. Hallal, B.P. Russell, H. Wei, M. Lee, C.W. Toon, J. Sy, B. Shivalingam, M.E. Buckland and K.L. Kaufman, “Proteome profiling of extracellular vesicles from neurosurgical aspirates identifies Chaperonin Containing TCP1 Subunit 6A (CCT6A) as a potential glioblastoma biomarker with prognostic significance” Proteomics, Special Issue: Extracellular Vesicles and Exosomes 2018.

KK26      A. Azimi, M. Ali, K.L. Kaufman, G.J. Mann, P. Fernandez-Penas, “Tape stripped stratum corneum samples prove to be suitable for comprehensive proteomic investigation of actinic keratosis” Proteomics: Clinical applications, 2018.

KK25      A. Azimi, K.L. Kaufman, M. Ali, S. Kossard, P. Fernandez-Penas, “Differential proteomic analysis of actinic keratosis, Bowen’s disease and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma by label free LC-MS/MS” Journal of Dermatological Science 91(1):69-78 2018.

KK24      D.M. Mallawaaratchy, S. Hallal, B. Russell, L. Ly, S. Ebrahimkhani, H. Wei, R.I. Christopherson, M.E. Buckland, K.L. Kaufman, “Comprehensive proteome profiling of glioblastoma-derived extracellular vesicles identifies markers for more aggressive disease” Journal of NeuroOncology 131(2):233-44 2017

KK23      A. Azimi, K.L. Kaufman, M. Ali, S. Kossard, P. Fernandez-Penas, “In silico analysis validates proteomic findings of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma tissue” Cancer Genomics Proteomics 13(6):453-65 2016,

KK22      P.Y. Huang, S. Mactier, N. Armacki, K.L. Kaufman, L. Belov, O.G. Best, D. Pascovici, S.P. Mulligan, and R.I. Christopherson, “Protein Profiles Distinguish Stable and Progressive Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia” Leukemia and Lymphoma 16:1-11 2016.

KK21      K.L. Kaufman, Y. Jenkins, M. Alomari, O.G. Best, D. Pascovici, S. Mactier, S. Mulligan, P. Haynes and R.I. Christopherson, “The Hsp90 inhibitor SNX-7081 is synergistic with fludarabine nucleoside via DNA damage and repair mechanisms in human, p53-negative chronic lymphocytic leukemia” Oncotarget 6(38):40981-97 2015.

KK20      N.J Hare, B. Chan, E. Chan, K.L. Kaufman, W.J. Britton and B.M. Saunders, “Microparticles released from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected human macrophages contain increased levels of the type I interferon inducible proteins including ISG15” Proteomics 15(17):3020-9 2015

KK19      D.M. Mallawaaratchy, M.E. Buckland, K.L. McDonald, C.C.Y. Li, L. Ly, E.K. Sykes, R.I. Christopherson and K.L. Kaufman, “Membrane proteome analysis of glioblastoma cell invasion” Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology 75(5):425-41 2015.

KK18      J. Zhou, L. Belov, P. Chapuis, C. Chan, N. Armstrong, K.L. Kaufman, M.J. Solomon, S.J. Clarke and R.I. Christopherson, “Surface profiles of live colorectal cancer cells and tumour infiltrating lymphocytes from surgical samples correspond to prognostic categories” Journal of Immunological Methods 416:59-68 2015.

KK17      P. Wilcox, C.C. Li, M. Lee, B. Shivalingam, J. Brennan, C.M. Suter, K.L. Kaufman, T. Lum and M.E. Buckland “Oligoastrocytomas: throwing the baby out with the bathwater?” Acta Neuropathologica 129(1):147-9 2015.

KK16      K.L. Kaufman, S. Mactier and R.I. Christopherson, “Surface antigen profiling of surgical melanoma specimens” in Melanoma: Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology 2015.

KK15      S. Mactier, K.L. Kaufman, P. Wang, B. Crossett, E.H. Yang, G.M. Pupo, R.A. Scolyer, J.H. Yang, G.J. Mann and R.I. Christopherson “Protein signatures correspond to survival outcomes of AJCC stage III melanoma patients” Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research 27(6):1106-16 2014. IF 2016=5.17

KK14      M. Alomari, S. Mactier, K.L. Kaufman, O. G. Best, S. P. Mulligan and R. I. Christopherson “Profiling the lipid raft proteome from human MEC1 chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells” Journal of Proteomics and Bioinformatics, Vol 7 “Affinity Proteomics”, 2014,

KK13      K.L. Kaufman, S. Mactier, N.J. Armstrong, D. M. Mallawaaratchy, S.N. Byrne, L.E. Haydu, V. Jakrot, J.F. Thompson, G.J. Mann, R.A. Scolyer and R.I. Christopherson “Surface antigen profiles of leukocytes and melanoma cells in lymph node metastases are associated with survival in AJCC stage III melanoma patients” Clinical and Experimental Metastasis 31(4):407-21 2014

KK12      Y. Che, O.G. Best, L. Zhong, K.L. Kaufman, S. Mactier, M. Raftery, L.M. Graves, S.P. Mulligan and R.I. Christopherson “Hsp90 inhibitor SNX-7081, dysregulates proteins involved with DNA repair and replication and the cell cycle in human chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells” Journal of Proteome Research 12(4): 1710-22, 2013.

KK11      D. M. Mallawaaratchy, S. Mactier, K.L. Kaufman, K. Blomfield, and R.I. Christopherson, “The phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002, decreases aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, chaperones and glycolytic enzymes in human HT-29 colorectal cancer cells” Journal of Proteomics 75(5):1590-0, 2012.

KK10      E. Heath, K.L. Kaufman and R.I. Christopherson, “B-RAF: a contributor to the melanoma phenotype” Molecules in Focus, International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology 43(1):29-32 2011.

KK9        N. Zahr, K.L. Kaufman and C. Harper, “Clinical and pathological features of alcohol-related brain damage” Nature Reviews Neurology 7, 284-94 2011

KK8        K.L. Kaufman, L. Belov, P. Huang, S. Mactier, R. Scolyer, G. Mann and R.I. Christopherson, “An extended antibody microarray for surface profiling metastatic melanoma” Journal of Immunological Methods 358(1-2): 23-34 2010.

KK7        K.L. Alexander-Kaufman and C. Harper, “Transketolase: observations in alcohol-related brain damage research” Molecules in Focus, International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology 41:717-20 2009

KK6        H. Matsuda, T. Iwasaki, K.L. Alexander-Kaufman and I. Matsumoto “High-throughput analysis of alcoholic and drug abused postmortem human brain” Japanese Journal of Molecular Psychiatry (Bunshi Seishin) 6(3): 24-29 2009.

KK5        K.L. Alexander-Kaufman, S. Cordwell, C. Harper and I. Matsumoto “A proteome analysis of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in human alcoholic patients” Proteomics: Clinical Applications 1(1):62-72 2007

KK4        K.L. Alexander-Kaufman, I. Dedova, C. Harper and I. Matsumoto “Proteome analysis of the dorsolateral prefrontal region from healthy individuals” Neurochemistry International 51(6-7):433-9 2007

KK3        K.L. Alexander-Kaufman, C. Harper, P Wilce and I. Matsumoto “The cerebellar vermis proteome of chronic alcoholic individuals” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 31(8):1286-96 2007

KK2        I. Matsumoto, K.L. Alexander-Kaufman, T. Iwazaki, M. Kashem and H. Matsuda “Central nervous system proteomes in alcohol and drug abuse and dependence” Expert Review of Proteomics 4(4): 539-52 2007

KK1        K.L. Alexander-Kaufman, G. James, D. Sheedy, C. Harper and I. Matsumoto “Differential protein expression in the prefrontal white matter of human alcoholics: a proteomics study” Molecular Psychiatry 11(1): 56-65 2006

Book chapters:

K.L. Kaufman, S. Mactier, P. Kohnke and R.I. Christopherson, “Cell surface oncoproteomics: cancer biomarker discovery and clinical applications”, in Oncoproteins: Types and Detection, Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Edited by Jeremy R. Davis (2011) ISBN: 978-1-61761-610-5

Matsumoto, K.L. Kaufman, M.A. Kashem and H. Matsuda-Matsumoto, “Ethanol-related Encephalopathies”, in Drug-related Encephalopathies, Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Edited by G. P. Sechi (2008) ISBN: 978-1-60456-745-8

Published Conference Abstracts:

1. M. Batarseh, K. Ekroos, S. Hallal, K. Kaufman, “Enhancing extracellular vesicle isolation of human plasma verified by high resolution lipidomics” Journal of Extracellular Vesicles 8(Suppl 1): 1593587(2019)
2. Hallal, D. Mallawaaratchy, H. Wei, M. Buckland, K. Kaufman, “Glioblastoma stem cells induce an invasive phenotype in normal astrocytes via extracellular vesicles”, Journal of Extracellular Vesicles 7, 236-236 (2018)
3. Hallal, B. Russell, B. Shivalingam, M. Buckland, K. Kaufman, “Proteome analysis of glioma-derived extracellular vesicles isolated from neurosurgical aspirates provide markers for disease stage and progression”, Journal of Extracellular Vesicles 7, 57-58 (2018)
4. Kim, B. Kong, T.H. Lo, F. Kupresanin, M. Papadimitrious, J. Hsu, P. Fromm, K. Kaufman, M. Buckland, G. Clark, D. Hart, “A combinatory immunotherapy against brain tumour: blood dendritic cell based vaccine therapy with checkpoint inhibitors”, European Journal of Immunology 48:161-161 (2018)
5. Azimi, K.L. Kaufman, M. Ali, S. Kossard, P. Fernandez-Penas, “Label-free proteomic analysis of microdissected formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma tissue”, Australiasian Journal of Dermatology, 57:49(1):S1 (2016)
6. Mulligan, M. Alomari, K.L Kaufman, S. Mactier, O.G. Best, R. I. Christopherson, “Rituximab induces major changes in the surface proteome of lipid rafts on human MEC1 chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells”, Leukemia & Lymphoma 56(S1) (2015)
7. M Mallawaaratchy, K.L. McDonald, E.K. Sykes, M.E. Buckland, R.I. Christopherson and K.L. Kaufman “Novel proteins associated with invadopodia structures in glioblastoma” NeuroOncology 16(Suppl 2) ii100 (2014)
8. L. Kaufman, L. Ly, M. McKay, D.M. Mallawaaratchy, S. Mactier, B. Crossett, M. Molloy, M.E. Buckland, K.L. McDonald and R.I. Christopherson “Comprehensive proteomic profiling of bevacizumab-resistant glioblastoma” NeuroOncology 16(Suppl 2) ii98 (2014)
9. M. Mallawaaratchy, R.I. Christopherson and K.L Kaufman “Membrane proteome analysis of invasive human glioblastoma multiforme” European Journal of Cancer 49(2): S132-133 (2013)
10. Mactier, K.L. Kaufman, P. Wang, B. Crossett, E. Yang, R.A. Scolyer, J. Yang, G.J. Mann and R.I. Christopherson “Identification of markers prognostic of survival in lymph node metastases from stage III melanoma patients” European Journal of Cancer 49(2): S874 (2013)
11. Harper, K.L. Alexander-Kaufman, M. Kashem, I. Matsumoto, X. He, A. Pfefferbaum and E. Sullivan “Thiamine deficiency is a critical factor in alcohol-related brain damage – new experimental structural and human proteomics data” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 32(6):300A (2008)
12. L. Alexander-Kaufman, M.A. Kashem, C. Harper, D. Sheedy and I. Matsumoto, “Proteome analyses of human brain regions sensitive to alcohol-induced brain damage” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 31(6): 31A (2007)
13. L. Alexander-Kaufman, C. Harper and I. Matsumoto, “Alcohol-related brain damage: proteomics investigations using postmortem human brain tissue” Neuropathology 27(2): 157-211 (2007)
14. L. Alexander-Kaufman, C. Harper and I. Matsumoto, “Proteome analyses of human brain regions sensitive to alcohol-induced brain damage” Neuropathology 27(2): 157-211 (2007)
15. L. Alexander-Kaufman, C. Harper and I. Matsumoto “A proteome analysis of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in human alcoholic patients” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 30: 157A (2006)
16. Matsumoto and Alexander-Kaufman “Alcohol-specific cascades underlying alcohol-induced prefrontal cortex damage: Insight into proteomics studies” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 30: 76A (2006)
17. Matsumoto and L. Alexander-Kaufman, “Alcohol-induced brain damage; proteomics on postmortem human brain” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 30: 85A (2006)
18. L. Alexander-Kaufman, G. James, D. Sheedy, C. Harper and I. Matsumoto, “Protein expression changes in prefrontal white matter from human alcoholics” Alcohol and Alcoholism Supplement 40(1): i1-63. (2005)
19. L. Alexander, G. James, D. Sheedy, C. Harper and I. Matsumoto, “Differential protein expression in the white matter of the dorsolateral prefrontal region in human alcoholics” Journal of Neurochemistry 94 (Suppl. 2): 64-128 (2005)