Joanna received her B. Med Sci in Medicinal Chemistry in 2021 at Western Sydney University. She then completed a B. Sci (Honours) under the supervision of Professor Margaret Sunde at the University of Sydney, developing methods for producing and studying proteins involved in human degenerative diseases. Joanna was awarded the degree with First Class and named on the Dean’s List of Academic Excellence. Since her undergraduate studies, Joanna has been an employed researcher for both the University of Sydney and the Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) which has inspired her passion for structural biology, specifically understanding the biological links between repetitive head impacts and developing the untreatable disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

She has presented some of her results at national research conferences. Joanna has since been awarded competitive Commonwealth funding to pursue PhD studies at the University of Sydney with Professor Margaret Sunde, Associate Professors Michael Buckland and Catherine Suter from the ASBB. Her research project is focussed on the development of fluorescent tools for the diagnosis of CTE.

Outside of the lab, Joanna can also be found experimenting in the kitchen with chemistry (cooking and baking) or being noisy on the piano.

Joanna’s research is centred around the untreatable disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) which is a unique degenerative brain disease almost exclusively found in individuals with a history of repetitive head impacts. Currently, accurate CTE diagnosis relies on examination of the brain at autopsy because there are no reliable clinical tools that allow a confident CTE diagnosis to be made in life. This lack of clinical diagnostic methods limits effective CTE patient care and treatment, the identification of potential therapeutic strategies, and the development of risk mitigation approaches. Joanna’s research actively works towards changing this.

The overarching goal is to develop a novel detection screen for the diagnosis of CTE in life.

This will be achieved by firstly characterising and defining the molecular features that are unique to CTE. A multi-disciplinary approach will be taken, utilising data from both lab-based and tissue-based experiments. In doing this, characterisation can be done directly in the biological context of the disease, generating an understanding unmatched in its detail. This is essential for developing tools that can discriminate CTE from other neurological conditions. From here, identified CTE markers can be screened against various fluorescent compounds which may display CTE-specific interactions. Joanna has access to more than 20 newly developed compounds that she will test against biological material from both the lab and from tissue. Compounds that are capable of confidently detecting CTE will be rigorously characterised and worked up as a novel detection screen for the disease.

Supervisors: Professor Margaret Sunde, A/Professor Michael Buckland and A/Professor Catherine Suter.