Blueprints for breakthroughs
From Nobel labs to national impact with alumna Stephanie Wood
From her early days at IMB to leading one of the nation’s most ambitious medical research infrastructure projects, Stephanie Wood has always been driven by one question, “what makes great science happen?”
It’s a question that took her from Brisbane to Stockholm, from the microscope to interviewing Nobel laureates, and now into shaping Australia’s next-generation biomedical precincts. But her journey started in one of UQ’s iconic sandstone buildings at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience.
“I was really encouraged to think globally,” Stephanie says. “At IMB, the mindset was, you’re not just doing your PhD—you’re part of a global research pipeline. There was this clear expectation that nothing was out of reach.”
After completing her PhD in cell biology, Stephanie headed to Sweden to take up a postdoctoral fellowship at the prestigious Karolinska Institute, home of the Nobel Assembly. There, her research moved into a more clinical space—and so did her thinking.
“Karolinska is a university hospital, so I was working directly in a medical environment. That translational mindset was something IMB had already seeded in me. The culture there wasn’t just about the science, but how that science reaches people. That stuck with me.”
Her interest soon turned toward something broader than the lab bench. At Stockholm’s Nobel Museum, Stephanie joined a project exploring how Nobel Prize-winning discoveries came to be, not just the science, but the environments, policies and people that made those breakthroughs and their translation possible.
“I got to speak to Nobel Laureates in medicine and ask them, ‘what was going on around you?’ ‘What made the discovery possible?’ ‘What happened next?’ That’s when I got really fascinated by the ecosystem of discovery—how you make great research not just happen, but matter.”
That fascination became her career. Today, Stephanie is leading the creation of the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator, a bold, translational health complex built in partnership between the University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
“In a way, we’re trying to recreate what IMB built—a place where people from different disciplines interact. That doesn’t just happen; you have to design for it. IMB’s leadership prioritised connectedness. I remember being kicked out of the lab and told to go to seminars!” she laughs. “That kind of culture—cross-pollination, openness—is what leads to real breakthroughs.”
The Accelerator is being built with this exact goal in mind, bringing together science, medicine, engineering, clinicians and industry under one roof. It will include an on-site manufacturing facility, a deliberate nod to the lessons Stephanie brought with her from Brisbane.
“To keep startups and discoveries in Australia, you need the ability to move fast—through clinical trials, through development—without exporting everything overseas. Keeping the discovery with the researchers, keeping it in town longer, gives Australian patients first access to new treatments.”
Reflecting on her journey, Stephanie credits IMB not only for its world-class research training but for something harder to define, an ambition to imagine things differently.
“IMB gave me the confidence to work across disciplines, to value collaboration, and to think globally. It wasn’t just about the experiments—it was about building the future of science. And that’s what I’m still doing today.”