Dr Michael Janitz
Michael has extensive experience in the field of transcriptomics and functional genomics. His current scientific interest focuses on investigations of gene expression and alternative splicing patterns in the human brain, in particular in the context of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA).

Bei Jun Chen, PhD candidate
Bei Jun's research aims to identify molecular markers of MSA and endometrial cancer (EC) using analysis of RNA-Seq data derived from MSA brain tissue, EC tumours and cell lines as well as using meta-analytical approaches. Another focus of her project is investigation of aging-related changes in the synaptic transcriptome.

Nicola Bliim, MPhil candidate
Nicola's project utilises cultured primary hippocampal mouse neurons and RNA sequencing to identify gene networks involved in long term potentitation of synapses. The aim of this project is to uncover the molecular mechanisms that underlie learning and memory formation as well as identifying changes to the neuronal transcriptome when long term potentiation of synapes is inhibited through disruption of synaptic adhesion.

Konii Takenaka, Honours student
Konii is interested in the role of long intervening non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) of which expression is perturbed in endometrial cancer (EC). An important part of her project is exploration of novel, unannotated lincRNAs, which are characterized by EC-specific expression profiles. Konii also utilizes meta-analytical approaches to determine changes in non-coding transcriptome in cervical cancer and correlate these findings with EC-specific data.