Dr Rachel Okolicsanyi

Biography

Dr Okolicsanyi undertook her studies at the University of Queensland completing a Bachelor of Science (2001) and a Master of Molecular Biology (2003). She undertook a reseach project at the Australian Genome Research Facility (2003-2005) investigating aspects of single cell prenatal diagnostics employing forensic DNA fingerprinting techniques. Moving to the UK, Dr Okolicsanyi joined a research project into the genetic basis of childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (2005-2008). Returning home, she joined an investigation into the genetics of Alcoholism in the  School of Biomedical Sciences, Griffith University (2008-2010). Her PhD project instigated a field change, switching from genetics to cell biology.  The project (2011-2015) examined  Mesenchymal Stem Cells as Mediators of the Neuronal Cell Niche. Dr Okolicsanyi was awarded a prestegious NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellowship (2016) which investigated The Role of Proteoglycans in Neurodegeneration.  Following the completion of this Fellowship in 2023, Dr Okolicsanyi continues to work for the Centre of Genomics and Personalised Health and is an Associate Investigator with the Centre for Biomedical Technologies.  She has been awarded over $830 000 in competitive funding and is currently co/supervising 5 PhD students and 1 MPhil student.