Our people

SAiGENCI team

Discover the SAiGENCI research team

We are home to remarkable cancer research talent across our four discrete research themes.

Within each of our subcategories, we have outstanding laboratory staff, graduate research students from Honours to PhD candidates, cross-disciplinary leads, and more.

Leadership team

Professor Christopher Sweeney

Director SAiGENCI
Email: saigencidirector@adelaide.edu.au

Professor Christopher Sweeney
Professor Lisa Butler

Program Lead, Resistance Prevention

Professor Lisa Butler
Professor Brendan Jenkins

Program Lead, Tumour Inflammation and Immunotherapy

Professor Brendan Jenkins
Professor Lan Nguyen

Program Lead, Computational Systems Oncology

Professor Lan Nguyen
Professor Jose Polo

Program Lead, Cancer Epigenetics and Director of the Adelaide Centre for Epigenetics

Professor Jose Polo

Our team

Cancer epigenetics

  • Professor Jose Polo - Program Lead and Group Leader, Epigenetic Processes in Pluripotency and Reprogramming Laboratory
  • Dr Luke Isbel - Group Leader, Molecular Epigenetics Laboratory
  • Dr Adrienne Sullivan - Group Leader, Development and Epigenetics Laboratory
  • Dr Qi Zhang - EMBLAus (PLN) Group Leader, Epigenetics and Gene Regulation Laboratory

Epigenetic processes in pluripotency and reprogramming

  • Dr Rudrarup Bhattacharjee - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Ning Liu - Bioinformatician
  • Dr Wenjun Nora Liu - Bioinformatician
  • Suzanne Maiolo - Research Manager
  • Dulce Lorena Medina Garcia - Research Officer
  • Monica Mohenska - Research Officer / Bioinformatician
  • Dr German Mora Roldan - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Xinqi Peng - Honours Candidate
  • Elly Walters - PhD Candidate
  • Tianjun Percy Zhang - PhD Candidate

Epigenetics and gene regulation laboratory

  • Shuhao Chen – Masters of Biotechnology
  • Dr Yanqiong Chen – Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Suchandana Deka - PhD Candidate
  • Jvaughn Duggan - Research Co-ordinator
  • Kelly Gembus - Research Co-ordinator
  • Xianzhe (Jerry) Hu - Honours Candidate
  • Ruoxuan Jia - PhD Candidate
  • Angela Kloutsiniotis - PhD Candidate
  • Dr Jia Pei Lim - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Xueman (Cheryl) Zhang - Masters of Biotechnology

Development and epigenetics laboratory

  • Dr Kate Dredge - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Ashleigh Geiger - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Tyrone Lock – Honours Candidate
  • Anna Nixon – PhD Candidate
  • Yuanzhen (Jennifer) Tan - Masters of Global Food and Nutrition Science

Molecular epigenetics laboratory

  • Katarina Amerl - MPhil Candidate
  • Grant Freeman – PhD Candidate
  • Dr Katja Hummitzsch - Research Co-ordinator
  • Daniel McDougal – Research Officer
  • Begoña Nieto Fernandéz - PhD Candidate
  • Dr Marion Turpin - Postdoctoral Researcher

Computational systems oncology

  • Professor Lan Nguyen - Program Lead, Computational Systems Oncology and Group Leader, Integrated Network Modelling Laboratory
  • Dr Simran Kaur - Senior Biostatistician and Data Sciences Lead
  • Dr Fuyi Li - Group Leader, ABI Laboratory
  • Dr Stefano Mangiola - Group Leader, Computational Cancer Immunogenomics Laboratory

Artificial intelligence for biological innovation (ABI Lab)

  • Jingjing Gao – PhD Candidate
  • Dr Jie Liu - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Tong Pan - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Jing Xu - Postdoctoral Researcher

Computational cancer immunogenomics laboratory

  • Venkatesh Kamaraj - MPhil Candidate
  • Upasana Maity – PhD Candidate
  • Galen Pereira - PhD Candidate
  • Dr Haroon Shakeel - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Chen Zhan - Postdoctoral Researcher

Integrated network modelling laboratory

  • Dr Anthony Hart - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Chui Yan (Shanice) Mah - Research and Laboratory Manager
  • Taha Osman - PhD Candidate
  • Dr Sungyoung Shin - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Zikang Xu - PhD Candidate

Resistance prevention

  • Professor Lisa Butler - Program Lead, Resistance Prevention and Group Leader, Prostate Cancer Research Group
  • Dr Joanna Achinger-Kawecka - Group Leader, 3D Chromatin Organisation Laboratory
  • Dr Alexandra Jolley - The Hospital Research Foundation Group (THRFG) Fellow in Cancer Molecular Pathology
  • Associate Professor Antonella Papa - Group Leader, Cancer Biology and Cell Signalling Laboratory
  • Dr Michael Roy - Group Leader, Molecular and Proximity Discovery (MPD) Laboratory
  • Professor Christopher Sweeney - Group Leader, OncoTherapeutics and Biology Laboratory

3D Chromatin Organisation Laboratory

  • Dr Dayna Challis - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Cathal King - Bioinformatician/PhD Candidate
  • Geri Laven-Law - Research Manager
  • Dr Neil Portman – Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Daniel Thomson - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Mark Van der Hoek – Research Co-ordinator
  • Dr Fiona Zhou - Postdoctoral Researcher

Cancer Biology and Cell Signalling Laboratory

  • Vivienne Lee - Research Co-ordinator
  • Dr Deanna Miller - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Leean Miranda - PhD Candidate
  • Kaveesha Senasinghe - PhD Candidate
  • Dr Maliha Wajahat – Postdoctoral Researcher

Molecular and proximity discovery (MPD) laboratory

  • Dr Sunita K C Basnet - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Mihaela Ficu - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Jackson Henneveld - Postdoctoral Researcher

OncoTherapeutics and biology laboratory

  • Asma Ali – PhD Candidate
  • Dr Mark Bunting - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Kimberley Clark - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Amy Denton - PhD Candidate
  • Dr Kristen Feher - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Ella Finlay - PhD Candidate
  • Monica Guilhaus - Bioinformatics Researcher
  • Christina Jos - PhD Candidate
  • Malvika Kharbanda - PhD Candidate
  • Dr Agnieszka Kumorkiewicz-Jamro – Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Katherine Morel - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Basira Najafzadeh - PhD Candidate
  • Kiara Price - Project Co-ordinator
  • Huimin Shao - PhD Candidate
  • Thuy Trang To - Research Co-ordinator

Prostate cancer research group

  • Dr Maggie Centenera - Senior Research Fellow
  • Dr Michael Cilento - PhD Candidate
  • Ez Aldeen Esawi - PhD Candidate
  • Maud Giles - Research Nurse
  • Joanna Gilles - Research Officer
  • Cassandra Gordon - Research Nurse
  • Anxuan Han - PhD Candidate
  • Madison Helm - Research Officer
  • Swati Irani - Research Officer
  • Mohammad Ismail - PhD Candidate
  • Dr Samira Khabbazi - Research Support, Tissue Collection Co-ordinator
  • Dr Zeyad Nassar - Senior Research Fellow
  • An Dieu Trang Nguyen - PhD Candidate
  • Anzu Okada - Research Officer
  • Dr Thomas Pulliam - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Suzanne Rajesh - PhD Candidate
  • Natalie Ryan - Research Officer
  • Dr Paul Trim – Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Talia Zade - Honours Candidate

Tumour inflammation and immunotherapy

  • Professor Brendan Jenkins - Program Lead and Group Leader, Cancer and Immune Signalling Laboratory (CISL)
  • Dr Mohamed Saad – Group Leader, Proteases in Inflammation and Cancer Lab (PICL)
  • Dr Yannan Yang - Group Leader, Biomaterials and Immune Engineering Laboratory (BIEL)
  • Dr Mara Zeissig - Group Leader, T cell Immunotherapy Laboratory (TCIL)

Biomaterials and immune engineering laboratory (BIEL)

  • Yuxuan Hou - PhD Candidate
  • Dr EunJung In - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Uta Ishikawa - MPhil Candidate
  • Xinyu Liu - Honours Candidate
  • Jiangqi Luo - Research Co-ordinator
  • Dr Moustafa Mabrouk - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Dr Thanh Loc Nguyen - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Yiru Shi - Research Co-ordinator
  • An My Tran Le – PhD Candidate

Cancer and immune signalling laboratory (CISL)

  • Dr Yu Chinn Joshua Chey - Postdoctoral Researcher 
  • Dr Ruby Dawson - Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Karen Hon - Research Co-ordinator
  • Andrea Neoral - Research and Laboratory Manager
  • Dr Georgette Radford - Postdoctoral Researcher, Ainsworth Research Fellow
  • Sarah Tamang - Animal and Laboratory Technician

Proteases in Inflammation and Cancer Lab (PICL)

  • Shermin Yu Tung Chan - MPhil Candidate
  • Heba Khattab – PhD Candidate

T cell immunotherapy laboratory

  • Daniel Hassan – PhD Candidate
  • Dr Tamsin Lannagan - Postdoctoral Researcher, Ainsworth Research Fellow
  • Wuyu (James) Lin - PhD Candidate
  • Andrea Lopez – Research Officer
  • Dr Charlotte Toomes - Postdoctoral Researcher

Professional staff

  • Anne Donaldson - Commercialisation Manager
  • Mitzi Hornby - Senior Development Manager | Fundraising and Philanthropy
  • Kathryn Hudson - Institute Manager
  • Dr Jia Ng - Research Development Manager
  • Dr Joanna Sundstrom - Research and Training Manager
  • Debbie Wellington - Executive Support Officer

Titleholders

  • Dr Faria Arefin - Medical Oncologist, Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) 
  • Dr Dharmesh Bhuva - NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, Frazer Institute, The University of Queensland 
  • Professor Jordan Hansford - Program Leader, Paediatric Neuro-Oncology, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and Clinical Lead in Neuro-Oncology, Women's & Children's Hospital (WCH)
  • Dr Jacqueline Rehn - Bioinformatician, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI)

Contact us

South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute

Location

Location
South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute
Adelaide University
Level 9, AHMS Building, Adelaide SA 5005

Email

Email: saigenci@adelaide.edu.au