Biomedical science and human biology

Many scientists in the school study humans and human health: how the body develops, how it is affected by mutations, pathogens and the environment, and how it has evolved.

Particular areas of focus are the study of how life begins and carries on to the next generation, and how basic mechanisms of reproduction and development are disrupted by harmful chemicals and pollution in our environment as well as by genetic disorders. We study fundamental genetic mechanisms underlying development, homeostasis, disease, and physiology using powerful biomedical organisms such as fruit flies, zebrafish, marsupials, mouse, and humans themselves. We study how the body is assailed by pathogenic agents such as fungi and mosquito-borne pathogens that cause malaria and dengue fever and explore new strategies to combat these. Finally, we address our place on earth as a species, how our genomes have evolved and how our existing populations are structured.


Supervisors

Alex Andrianopoulos

Microbial and developmental genetics

Alexandra Harvey

Embryonic stem cells

Ary Hoffmann

Pest and environmental adaptation

Andrew Pask

Evolution, development and reproduction

Brendan Houston

Genetics of male infertility, spermatogenesis and sperm function

David Gardner

Reproductive biology

Elizabeth Bromfield

Redox biology, reproduction, germ cells, proteomics, lipid biochemistry

Geoffrey McFadden

Malaria and endosymbiosis

Gerard Tarulli

Reproductive and developmental biology

Jessica Dunleavy

Male reproductive biology, cell biology, spermatogenesis

Jane Fenelon

Reproductive and developmental biology

Mark Green

Reproductive biology

Moira O'Bryan

Male infertility and germ cell biology

Marilyn Renfree

Reproductive and developmental biology

Patricia Jusuf

Neural development and regeneration, and disease modelling and treatment screening

Stephen Frankenberg

Development, reproduction, genomics, genetic biocontrol and synthetic biology

Vanessa R. Marcelino

Ecology of gut microbiomes

Xinyue Gu

Molecular entomology,endosymbionts, environmental stress

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