Professor Adam Walker
Principal investigator
Adam has focused on uncovering the mechanisms of MND and FTD for over 15 years. He obtained his BSc(Hons) in biochemistry from the University of Tasmania, PhD in neuroscience from the University of Melbourne, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research at the University of Pennsylvania and at Macquarie University, Sydney before founding the lab as the Ross Maclean Fellow for MND Research at the Queensland Brain Institute (2018-2025). He is a Bill Guest FightMND Mid-Career Research Fellow (since 2022) and the Chair of Pharmacological Sciences, The University of Sydney (since 2024).
Juliana Venturato
Laboratory manager
Juliana has used her wealth of experience in cell culture, biochemistry and molecular biology to study the molecular mechanisms of ALS and FTD, and to keep the lab running smoothly since 2018, at the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland and now also the Charles Perkins Centre at The University of Sydney.
Dr ADEKunle Bademosi
Race against dementia-dementia australia research foundation postdoctoral fellow
Kunle uses single-molecule imaging to study the normal and pathological role of TDP-43 in cells, at QBI. He completed his PhD at QBI investigating how general anaesthestics attenuate neuronal communication, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium, investigating synaptic autophagy in Parkinson’s disease.
Dr Anna Harutyunyan
postdoctoral fellow
Dr Katie Robinson
postdoctoral fellow
Dr Matisse jacobs
PhD CANDIDATE (2021-2025)
Matisse employed CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology and high throughput microscopy to identify regulators of TDP-43 pathology and toxicity. Her PhD was conferred in 2025, from The University of Queensland.
Elise Kellett
PHD CANDIDATE
Elise is conducting studies to understand how pathology develops in neurons in ALS/FTD, supported by an MND Australia PhD scholarship, at The University of Queensland.
Natalie Clubley
PHD Student
Mu SHEEN Chang
ReSEARCH ASSISTANt
Mu Sheen undertook Honours in the lab at UQ in 2024-25, studying the role of non-neuronal cells and synaptic dysfunction in models of TDP-43 pathology, and continues as a research assistant at the Charles Perkins Centre.
Hao (Donny) Wu
Research Assistant
Donny applies a variety of bioinformatics pipelines to large datasets to reveal biological pathways involved in ALS and FTD, at The University of Queensland.
Join us!
We are actively recruiting research students and staff members to join the lab at The University of Sydney.
Be in touch if you are interested to be involved in our research.
Lab Alumni
Yi Jia (Celine) Chye
Research Assistant
Celine joined the lab as an undergraduate summer student in 2022, and completed Honours (First Class) in 2024 focused on models of TDP-43 pathology.
Dr Sean Keating
PhD CANDIDATE (2020-2025)
Sean employed gene editing technology to create new disease models, and investigated protein clearance pathways that contribute to degradation of pathological TDP-43. He received First Class Honours in the lab in 2019, and was conferred his PhD from The University of Queensland in 2025, supported by the Thornton Foundation and MND Australia.
Dr Wei (leon) luan
postdoctoral fellow (2020-2025)
Leon joined the lab in 2020 to study the role of cellular stress responses in disease and led several pre-clinical and proof-of-concept therapeutic studies.
Dr Rebecca San gil
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2025)
Bec joined the lab in 2018 and led projects to understand the role of TDP-43 in disease pathogenesis, and was awarded the FightMND Early Career Research Fellowship in 2020.
Dr Thomas Hedl
Masters Student, PhD Candidate (2018-2025)
Tom employed proteomics techniques to analyse the protein composition of neuronal pathology in MND and FTD. He undertook Masters of Research studies, followed by PhD.
Lidia Madrid
research assistant (2020-2024)
Lidia conducted a myriad of studies to test potential therapeutics and characterise new models of ALS/FTD.
DR Heledd Brown-Wright
postdoctoral Fellow (2019-2024)
Heledd led pre-clinical and disease modelling projects focused on gene therapy and virus-mediated approaches.
Louis See Han Lim
Winter Student, Masters Student (2024)
Louis studied the role of non-neuronal cells in ALS/MND, employing biochemical and histological techniques, completing a Masters in Medical Biotechnology.
Christopher Hau
Summer Student, Masters Student (2024)
Christopher performed bioinformatics analysis of datasets from TDP-43 models to identify altered biological pathways, completing a Masters of Bioinformatics in 2024.
Sarah risby-Jones
Honours Student (2023)
Sarah joined the lab as an undergraduate summer student in 2021, and returned to complete Honours (First Class) to identify genes that modulate protein aggregation in ALS.
yvonne Un
Honours Student (2023)
Yvonne joined the lab as an undergraduate summer student in 2022 and continued on with Honours (First Class, University Medal), using biochemical and microscopy techniques to study TDP-43 pathology.
Dr Purba Nag
senior research assistant (2022-23)
Purba worked on projects aimed at understanding genes and proteins that control protein aggregation in neurodegeneration, using cell and human iPSC-derived neuron models of disease.
yi KIt chui
Honours student (2022)
Kit was an undergraduate winter intership student, and returned for Honours, employing adeno-associated virus approaches to study proteins that ameliorate TDP-43 pathology in mouse models of ALS.
Britt berning
research student (2017-2021)
Britt studied the role of subcellular organelle dysfunction in MND/FTD, using neuronal cell cultures and mouse models of disease.
SHILPA SWAMINATHAN
MASTERs StudENT, research assistant (2020-21)
Shilpa completed a summer internship and Masters coursework with the lab, followed by Masters of Molecular Biology in 2021, using cell culture systems to understand TDP-43 aggregation.
dR aMANDA wRIGHT
pOSTDOCTORAL fELLOW (2016-18)
Amanda ocused on molecular studies of Alzheimer's Disease. Amanda continues to collaborate with us on projects focused on developing MND treatments.
dR pRACHI mEHTA
pOSTDOCTORAL fELLOW (2016-18)
Prachi developed approaches for proteomics analysis of mouse tissues and identified potential biomarkers of disease.
Winonah RiddeLL
Summer Student, Research Assistant (2017-18)
Winonah joined the lab as a summer scholar, learning a variety of skills in biochemistry and histology, and continued with us to support our mouse model studies.
Owen Watson
Rotation student, Research Assistant (2017-18)
Owen joined the lab for a Master of Research rotation, and continued on using his histology skills analysing brain and spinal cord tissues.
Dr Kelly Jacobs
Research Assistant (2017-18)
Kelly assisted us in drug delivery and behavioural studies of mice, as a side-project while completing her PhD studies.
DR Sheng Le
pOSTDOCTORAL fELLOW (2017)
Sheng spearheaded pre-clinical MND/FTD mouse studies, and made a successful move to advance his career in industry.
HOSSAI GUL
MASTERS STUDENT (2017)
Hossai completed a Masters of Research project focused on uncovering disease mechanisms in genetically modified MND mice.