Employment history

Employment history

Group Leader, genomics and bioinformatics, Australian Centre for Ancient DNA.
Evolutionary Medicine research fellow at the Black Ochre Data Labs, a joint initiative between the Kids Research Institute in Perth and the Australian National University.
Using the largest cohort of Indigenous genomes in Australia, I am leading an international research team characterising the genetic determinants of Type 2 Diabetes in Aboriginal South Australians.

Worked in collaboration with the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics (NCIG) to build a draft reference pangenome that integrates whole-genome assemblies built from long-read sequencing and variation data representative of the unique Australian genetic diversity, in a graph-based representation.
Developed a working relationship with the Human Genome Reference, the Human Pangenome Reference, and the Telomere-to-Telomere consortia.
The project ideas and results enabled one NHMRC Ideas Grant ($2.5M), an MRFF Genomics Health Futures Mission ($1M), and a current 2024 MRFF Early to Mid-Career Researchers bid ($5M) led by the Garvan Institute.
Developed novel approaches to improve ancient DNA research methods, and standards and conducted systematic benchmarks.
Identified signatures of adaptation to coronaviruses in Southeast Asia, and identified potential candidates for drug repurposing, emphasising the utility of evolutionary analyses for medical research.

Led an international multi-disciplinary team to study human adaptation immediately after the out-of-Africa migration. The team included population geneticists, bioinformaticians, medical genomicists, immunologists, and paleoclimate experts.
Curated and managed the world’s first ancient human genome and microbiome database and applied it to perform one of the most comprehensive investigations of human evolution undertaken, as of 2018.
The research resulted in two high-profile manuscripts published in Nature Ecology & Evolution and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.