People

Jessica has been working at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2019. She completed her undergraduate degree in Animal and Veterinary Bioscience at the University of Sydney in 2011. Jessica has a background in conservation genomics, and in 2018 was awarded her PhD from the University of Sydney on developing genomic tools for the management of threatened species. Jessica works as an Illumina NGS service manager, providing a broad range of technical and project planning advice to clients undertaking transcriptomic, epigenomic, and genomic sequencing projects.

Jason has been working at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2008. He graduated from UNSW in 2008 with a Master of Science in Biotechnology. Jason manages the operations and resourcing for the Centre’s Illumina DNA, metagenome, and targeted DNA sequencing services. He also previously implemented and managed the Roche 454 sequencing service, Sanger sequencing and fragment analysis services. Prior to this, Jason worked at Silliker Inc. Food Science Centre (USA) as an operations supervisor and microbiologist.

Darshi has been working at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2015, as a Research Officer in the Next Generation Sequencing team. She was awarded her PhD in 2004 from the University of Sydney on the influence of glucocorticoids on osteoclast formation activity and life span. Darshi has extensive professional expertise and knowledge across a wide spectrum of research techniques including molecular biology, tissue culture and immunology.

Matthew Wong joined the Ramaciotti Centre in 2022 as a research officer in Sanger services. He received his PhD in 2016 from UNSW where he studied at the Children’s Cancer Institute. His background is in oncology research, specializing in the role of post-transcriptional modifications and super-enhancers in gene expression.

Dr Firoozeh Salehzadeh has extensive experience in the setting up and development of single cells sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, genomics, and epigenetics technologies in the company and industry. She started her scientific path in molecular biology, leading her to a PhD in Medical Sciences at the Karolinska Institute in 2011. She specialises in the study of molecular mechanisms regulating metabolism and obesity. Furthermore, her interest in high-throughput technologies has landed her a new role at Ramaciotti centre as a microarray service manager to establish Illumina Infinium array service. 

Erika has been working as a Research Officer in the microarray team at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2012. She has a wealth of experience in genotyping and gene expression array technology. Erika was awarded her PhD in 2003 from the University of Queensland and she has worked in various laboratories and research centres in Queensland and NSW gaining extensive experience in both molecular and cell biology.

Scott has been working at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2018. He graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science (First Class Honours) from the University of Technology in 2014. Scott is a Research Officer within the Next Generation Sequencing Team, performing tasks such as quality control checks, and preparing samples for sequencing. Prior to this, he worked at the Heart Research Institute, performing a wide variety of molecular biology techniques to produce quality data for publication.

Rhys has been working at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2018. He graduated from the University of Technology with a Bachelor of Biotechnology before working at The Garvan Institute, investigating personalised treatment for pancreatic cancer. Rhys is a Research Officer within the Next Generation Sequencing team, performing tasks such as generating sample quality control reports, preparing samples for sequencing and assisting in the management and troubleshooting of our Robotics platforms.

Christie has been working in the Microarray team at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2020, providing NATA-accredited genotyping services. She performs all aspects from QC checks to high-throughput processing of samples with liquid-handling instruments, data QC analysis, and liaising with customers. She was awarded her PhD in 2015 from The University of Sydney on the biology of the microalga Chromera velia (focussed on the genetics of flagellar assembly, in vitro growth improvement and novel pigmentation), and has a Bachelor of Science (Molecular Biology and Genetics) with First Class Honours. Her career has also encompassed research in the fields of biodiscovery (screening for microbial bioactive compounds), molecular microbiology (generation and phenotypic analysis of bacterial gene knockouts), photobiology and biochemistry, and participation in a range of citizen science projects.

Crystal has been working as a Research Assistant in the Amplicon Service since 2019. Prior to this, she worked as a research officer at Shandong University, China and a microbiologist technician for Mérieux NutriSciences, Madison, USA. Crystal graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from University of Wisconsin (USA) in 2017. Crystal’s has extensive technical experience in genomics, microbiology and chemical engineering research.

Kerry is a Research Officer specialising in Illumina sequencing platforms. Prior to joining the Ramaciotti Centre in 2020, she worked in a range of areas including preimplantation genetic screening, researching veterinary allergens for immunotherapy, and plant and insect molecular biology and biochemistry. Kerry was awarded her PhD in 2006 (QUT) for research on Characterisation of Proteinase Inhibitors from Canegrubs for Possible Application to Genetically Enginneer Pest-Dervied Resistance into Sugarcane. She also has a Graduate Certificate in Diagnostic Genomics (2021, QUT).

Lydia started as a research officer for Ramaciotti in 2024, specialising in ONT long read sequencing. She previously worked as a Technical Officer at the Research School of Biology, ANU. She worked as part of a team using ONT for whole genome sequencing of SARS-COV2, as well as running training programs and supporting other genomic and biosecurity research. Lydia graduated with an Advanced Bachelor of Science with Honours from ANU in 2021.

Sean is a Research Officer specialising in Illumina sequencing platforms. He graduated with a Master of Science (MSc) in Biotechnology from Rhodes University in South Africa. Prior to joining the Ramaciotti Centre in 2024, he worked as a Lab scientist in the Genomics Sequencing Platform at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney where he was responsible for sample QC, library preparation and NGS sequencing using Illumina platforms. Sean has years of experience as a Field application scientist supporting NGS customers, assisting with NGS assay design and troubleshooting issues in library prep and sequencing workflows.

Steven has been a research assistant at the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics since 2021.Working as research assistant working within the Sanger and Next Generation Sequencing teams. He graduated with a Bachelors of Nanoscience (First Class Honours) from the University of New South Wales in 2019, researching the formation of vascular endothelial cell within hydrogels. 

Nour is currently working as a research assistant for the NGS team at the Ramaciotti Centre. She previously worked for a statewide genomics service at NSW health pathology performing whole exome sequencing testing for patients with quick turnaround times. She also was involved in triaging genetic request forms and samples, performing DNA extractions from a variety of fresh samples, QC work, troubleshooting and results entry.

Commencing in 2023, Joshua embarked on a journey in genomics research, beginning with a degree in biotechnology (honours) from the University of Newcastle. With a solid foundation in DNA amplification, Joshua further honed their skills as a research assistant at the Centenary Institute, contributing to studies on genetic heart conditions. In the early months of 2023, Josuha transitioned to the Ramaciotti Centre, where they currently serve as a research assistant.

Zena was awarded her PhD in 2014 at the University of New South Wales with her research on characterising long non-coding RNA in colorectal cancer. Zena joined the Ramaciotti in 2022 and specialises in running the Illumina sequencing platforms. Zena has extensive professional expertise across a wide spectrum of techniques including molecular biology, tissue culture and immunology.

Phanna has been working as a Research Assistant in the NGS team since 2023. With an academic background in forensic science, she worked on a research project that utilised NGS for animal species identification and mtDNA construction from wildlife forensic samples. Prior to her current role, Phanna worked as a Technical Officer in a molecular biology lab at NSW Health Pathology, where she contributed to large-scale COVID-19 diagnostics. She is also keenly interested in contributing to environmental research and had volunteered as well as worked as a laboratory assistant for several projects at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (HIE).

David is a Research Assistant working at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2024. Prior to this, he was a Hospital Scientist performing COVID-19 qPCR testing and ONT sequencing at Royal Prince Alfred hospital. He has a research background investigating mitochondrial diseases, and graduated from UNSW in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) in Molecular and Cell Biology.

Sarita completed a PhD in 2019 from the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences (BABS), UNSW. Her research focused on the impact of residual hydrocarbon and polar metabolites on microbial communities in Antarctic soil, leading to the establishment of effective remediation targets for the region. As a Tutor/Demonstrator for over 5 years, she shared expertise in molecular, microbiological, and biotechnological techniques. Before joining the centre, Sarita served as a technical officer at BABS, responsible for preparing laboratory classes for undergraduates.

Stephanie currently works as a research assistant in the NGS team at the Ramaciotti Centre. She was awarded her PhD from Macquarie University in 2023 for the use of TraDIS data to discover novel multidrug efflux pumps in Acinetobacter baumannii. Prior to joining the centre, she worked at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Synthetic Biology at Macquarie University specializing in microbial genetics and microfluidics research.

Keren has been working at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2018 as the Centre Quality Manager. She is a quality management system professional with 15 years’ experience specialising in quality system implementation based on ISO9001, ISO13485 and ISO/IEC17025 (NATA). Keren also has a background in medical microbiology and immunology, graduating from UNSW with a Bachelor of Science in 2004.

Aravind has been working as a Production Bioinformatician at the Ramaciotti Centre since 2022. He graduated with a Master of Philosophy (Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences) from the University of Melbourne in 2021. Aravind was studying the functional genomics of retinal disorders at WEHI during his master’s degree and continued to work as a Research assistant at WEHI before joining the centre. Prior to this, Aravind worked as a research Bioinformatician at IMCB, Singapore, & C-DAC, India where he analysed data from different -omics technologies by applying a variety of Bioinformatics tools/techniques and his efforts have been recognised as a co-author in various publications from high impact journals.

Antonika joined the Ramaciotti Centre of Genomics in late 2023. She's spent a few years working as a scientific officer in the molecular biology department at Douglas Hanly Moir. She graduated with a Bachelor's in Forensic Biology from the University of Technology, Sydney, in 2015, and has experience in project administration and coordination in construction and digital signage.

Qing is a computational postdoctoral fellow at the Ramaciotti Centre. She has extensive experience in bioinformatics and multi-omics data analysis, including RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq, CUT&RUN, and DNA methylation. Before joining the Centre in late 2024, Qing worked at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, where she studied gene expression and chromatin accessibility at single-cell resolution. Her research has contributed to several high-impact publications.