Our people
Director and group leader
Lars Ittner
Professor
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Professor Lars Ittner is the Director of the Dementia Research Centre and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences at Macquarie University. Lars graduated from the University of Ulm in Germany and completed his thesis at the University … View full profile
Ittner group team members
Dr Daryl Ariawan
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Daryl completed her PhD at UNSW Sydney in the field of synthetic organic chemistry. Currently, Daryl is working at Dementia Research Centre (DRC) synthesising novel peptide sequence for disease therapeutics.… View full profile
Dr Yuanyuan Deng
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School, Macquarie Medical School
Yuanyuan completed a PhD in Biomedical Science in 2022. Currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Macquarie University in the Dementia Research Centre, focusing on the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and related gene-target therapy. Previously working as a researcher and lecturer at the Key Laboratory … View full profile
Dr Jessica Chandra
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Jessica completed her PhD in 2024, working under the supervision of Prof Cyndi Shannon Weickert at the Schizophrenia Research Laboratory at NeuRA, in affiliation with the University of New South Wales. She then joined the Dementia Research Centre at Maccquarie University, as a postdoctoral researche… View full profile
Dr Carol Au
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Dr Carol Au is a Research Officer at the Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie University. She completed her PhD in Medicine at the University of Sydney (Children’s Hospital at Westmead). She then commenced postdoctoral training at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) on an American Heart Ass… View full profile
Mr Miheer Sabale
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
Miheer is a PhD candidate at the Dementia Research Centre of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Macquarie University.… View full profile
Andrea Chan
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
Andrea is a research assistant responsible for histology and tissue processing at the Dementia Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science.… View full profile
Emily Johnson
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
Emily is currently a PhD candidate with the Dementia Research Centre focusing on inhibitory interneurons in Alzheimer's disease. Previously she completed her Master’s degree in Translational Biomedical Science from the University of Cambridge, looking into DNA methylation and renal cancer. She also … View full profile
Yingying Huang
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
Yingying is a PhD candidate in the Dementia Research Centre with research focus on Alzheimer's Disease and dementia. Her projects include rapidly identifying potential novel MND genes or pathogenic mutations of MND genes, study in functional variation of TDP-43 MND central protein, and generation of…
Deputy Director Education and group leader
Thomas Fath
Professor
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Prof Thomas Fath is Deputy Director of the Dementia Research Centre and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Macquarie University. Previous to this, he was the Head of the Neurodegeneration and Repair Unit (NRU) and Head of the Neuro… View full profile
Fath group team members
Ms Esmeralda Paric
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School, Motor Neuron Disease Research Centre, School of Psychological Sciences
Soumalya Sarkar
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
Soumalya Sarkar is a PhD candidate in the Dementia Research Centre at the MQ Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences.… View full profile
Deputy Director Operations and group leader
Yazi Ke
Professor
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School, Macquarie Medical School
Professor Yazi Ke is the Deputy Director (Research and Operations) of the Dementia Research Centre and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Macquarie University. After obtaining her PhD (Medicine) from University of Sydney (USyd) in Dec… View full profile
Ke group team members
Dr Annika van Hummel
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Annika van Hummel completed her PhD in S100 proteins in osteoarthritis in 2014 under the supervision of Prof Hala Zreiqat and Prof Christopher Little at The University of Sydney. She then joined the Dementia Research Unit at The University of New South Wales working as a postdoctoral researcher with… View full profile
Mr Miheer Sabale
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
Miheer is a PhD candidate at the Dementia Research Centre of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Macquarie University.… View full profile
Ms Zoe Eastwood
Macquarie Medical School
Zoe completed her Bachelor of Science (neuroscience major) in 2023 at UNSW. In 2024 she completed her Honours in pharmacology, working on a project to better characterise a G protein-coupled receptor, found to be upregulated in lung cancer. This was under the supervision of Associate Professor Nicol… View full profile
Miss Anni Su
Macquarie Medical School
Anni Su completed her Bachelor of Science in medical science and pharmacology from The University of Sydney in 2021. She then completed her Honours project in 2022 under Dr. Justin Wong, studying the role of RNA modification in breast cancer. Her interest in RNA modification led her to pursue a Mast… View full profile
Miss Filipa Nascimento
Macquarie Medical School
Filipa is a biologist from Portugal with a Master’s degree in Marine Biology and Conservation. She has extensive experience in animal care and research, having worked at the Champalimaud Foundation with laboratory rodents in a research setting. Her background also includes working with a diverse ran… View full profile
Group leader
Dr Janet Van Eersel
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Dr. Janet van Eersel earned her PhD from the University of Sydney's Department of Pathology in 2010. She then expanded her expertise with postdoctoral research roles at the Brain and Mind Research Centre (University of Sydney) and the Dementia Research Unit (University of NSW).In 2018, Dr van Eerse… View full profile
Van Eersel group team members
Mrs Magdalena Przybyla
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Magdalena Przybyla is a postdoctoral fellow in the Dementia Research Centre at Macquarie University. Magdalenas research primarily focuses on identifying, and testing novel treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, as well as utilizing specific models to better understand mechanisms underlying neur… View full profile
Miss Julia van der Hoven
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Julia van der Hoven completed her Bachelor of Science majoring in physiology and pharmacology at The University of Sydney in 2011. In 2012, she completed her Honours project on investigating the spreading of tau protein pathology under the supervision of Prof Lars Ittner. After working in community … View full profile
Ms Hannah Suddull
Dementia Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie Medical School, Motor Neuron Disease Research Centre, School of Natural Sciences
Ms Ing Chee Wee
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Ing Chee Wee completed her Bachelor of Science, majoring in Microbiology, Immunology, and Biochemistry, at the University of Adelaide in 2016. In 2017, she undertook an Honours project under the supervision of Professor Christopher Proud, investigating the role of MAP Kinase-Interacting Kinases in n… View full profile
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Miss Shelly Xiao
Macquarie Medical School
Shelly joined Dementia Research Centre as an Animal Care Taker in 2025, where she supports research and ensures the health and welfare of laboratory animals. She completed a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Advanced Studies (Animal and Veterinary Bioscience) in the University of Sydney in 2024, a… View full profile
Group leader
Dr Shelley Forrest
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Dr Shelley Forrest is a group leader at the Dementia Research Centre in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Macquarie University. She completed her PhD in Neuroscience from The University of Sydney in 2013 and commenced postdoctoral training in the Disci… View full profile
Group leader
Dr Ole Tietz
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Dr. Ole Tietz is a Research Fellow at the Dementia Research Centre of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Macquarie University. Ole graduated from Imperial College London, UK, and completed his PhD at the University of Alberta, Canada, in 2015. His thesis dealt with the imaging of inflamm… View full profile
Tietz group team members
Mr Nicholas Solomon
Macquarie Medical School, School of Natural Sciences, School of Natural Sciences
Mr Kanishka Pushpitha Maha Thananthirige
Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie Medical School
Kanishka recently completed his PhD at Macquarie University in clinical medicine in 2022 under the supervision of A/Prof Vivek Gupta. His PhD project was determined to identify the Amyloid and Tau protein pathology in the retina in healthy and neurodegenerative disease conditions. He recently joined… View full profile
Reuben Blades
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences
Reuben Blades is a PhD candidate in the Dementia Research Centre at the MQ Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences.… View full profile