Dr. Marina Naval-Sanchez is a NHMRC Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at The University of Queensland (Australia). She pursued postdoctoral studies in 2019-2024 in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland (Australia) and as an Office Chief Executive (OCE) Fellow in 2015-2019 at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) (Australia). She received her PhD in Molecular Biosciences in 2014 from KULeuven (Belgium). She received her MSc in Applied Bioinformatics in 2009 from Cranfield University (UK) and MSc in Agriculture Engineering in 2008 from the Universitat de Lleida (Spain).

Marina's research program applies state-of-the-art bioinformatic, machine learning, and genetic and genomic tools to unearth the master regulators and enhancer grammar governing development and ageing across species (mouse and human) and to decipher the genomic (regulatory) impact of evolution, domestication and human selection in farm species (sheep, cattle, salmon). Her research outcomes have been published in high-impact journals such as Cell Metabolism, Nature Communications, Genome Biology, Nucleic Acids Research, Genome Research and Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Her research efforts have been supported by domestic and international fellowships and grants, including the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC, EL1 2024 Recipient), Advance Queensland, UQ Innovation Connections, CSIRO Scientific Investment Projects, CSIRO OCE Fellowships, and Flanders Wetesnchappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) PhD Fellowship.

Ralph Patrick is a researcher focussed on understanding the molecular drivers of ageing and age-associated diseases and developing new therapeutic approaches to help alleviate diseases of ageing. He is trained as a computational biologist, with a BSc (Hons) and PhD from the University of Queensland (UQ). After completion of his PhD in 2016, he worked as a postdoctoral scientist at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI) in Sydney for nearly six years. At the VCCRI, a major focus of his research was mapping out how the individual cells of the heart respond to a heart attack at the gene expression level and how these compare to other forms of chronic heart disease. Following the VCCRI, he joined the Ageing and Cellular Reprogramming lab at the IMB in 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow. His work at the IMB focusses on understanding the epigenetic and transcription factor drivers of the ageing process and leveraging this knowledge to develop new strategies for restoring youthful cell states. Any potential collaborators or students interested in this research area are welcome to contact him.

My research interests are centred around the structure and function of venom and silk polypeptides produced by arthropods, and their use in biotechnology and medicine. I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in the King laboratory in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland, Australia. Currently, I am investigating the composition, function and evolution of neglected insect venoms produced by assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), robber flies (Diptera: Asilidae) and nettle caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae).

Dr Fernanda Cardoso is a Brazil-born Australian dual-citizen researcher interested in venom peptide-based biodiscovery and therapeutics development. Cardoso was awarded an MSc in Molecular Pharmacology and a PhD with an emphasis in Biochemistry and Immunology and is part of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, where she develops novel therapies for complex neurological diseases. Cardoso has interdisciplinary training in the fields of neuropharmacology, medicinal chemistry and chemical biology and a strong background in drug discovery, which provides the skills to identify naturally occurring or synthetic bioactive molecules and to study their effects in human physiology with applications in neurologic disorders such as chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and motor neuron disease (MND). Please see Dr Cardoso's Grants and Publications list for more details.

Before joining the University of Queensland, Dr Cardoso was part of the Queensland Institute for Medical Research, holding a prestigious CAPES Postdoctoral Fellowship. During this period, Cardoso developed unique high-throughput screen platforms for discovering protein and peptide targets of novel therapies to combat infectious diseases and novel helminth-derived bioactives with anti-inflammatory properties. Please see Dr Cardoso's Publications list for more details.

Dr Cardoso is currently part of the Centre for Drug Discovery and manages several industry and academic projects studying ion channel modulators derived from natural repertoires, particularly venoms, and developing novel, effective drugs to treat neurological disorders.