Neurobiology > Laboratory People
Professor Marina Kennerson
Director, Northcott Neuroscience Laboratory
ANZAC Research Institute
Concord Repatriation General Hospital
Professor Kennerson is a Principal Hospital
Scientist with the Molecular Medicine Laboratory at Concord Hospital and Senior Principal Research Fellow with the ANZAC Research Institute and Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney. She is a key international researcher in the field of hereditary neuropathies and has developed the genomics gene discovery and translational program at the ANZAC Research Institute. She is a member of the international CMT-R Board, Chair of the Asian Oceanic Inherited Neuropathy Consortium (AOINC), a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the CMT Research Foundation and Deputy Director and Head of Research for the Sydney Local Health District Institute of Precision Medicine and Bioinformatics. Professor Kennerson has discovered several neuropathy genes including ATP7A and PDK3 as well as structural variation mutations causing gene dysregulation as a new disease mechanism for hereditary neuropathies. She is also developing a translational program to introduce induced pluripotent stem cell technologies and animal models (mouse and C. elegans) for the newly discovered genes. Professor Kennerson is recognised for teaching gene mapping linkage analysis both locally and internationally and is the Genetics Unit of Study Co-Ordinator for the Masters Course at the Brain and Mind Centre.
Dr. Gonzalo Perez Siles
Northcott Neuroscience Laboratory
ANZAC Research Institute
Concord Repatriation General Hospital
Dr Gonzalo Perez Siles joined the Northcott 
Neurobiology Laboratory at ANZAC Research Institute in 2012 and oversees the cell biology program that studies the consequences of newly discovered hereditary neuropathy gene mutations. The cell biology program uses a broad range of cell models, including patient derived skin fibroblasts and established neuronal cell lines. We are currently implementing an iPSC program to develop patient derived motor neurons. This strategy will allow us to study, in the appropriate neuronal cell type, the impact of disease causative mutations while maintaining the disease-associated genetic background of the patient. Dr Perez-Siles’s research extends to the use of animal models genetically modified to express disease causing mutations. He has recently generated a unique conditional knock in mouse to model a particular form of X-linked distal hereditary motor neuropathy, dHMNX. This mouse model will provide critical information to understand how axonal degeneration occurs in this form of motor neuron disease and will become a valuable model to test the effectiveness of developing compounds in preventing or ameliorating motor neuron cell death.
Dr Ramesh Narayanan
Northcott Neuroscience Laboratory
ANZAC Research Institute
Concord Repatriation General Hospital
Dr Ramesh Narayanan completed his PhD thesis on Motor Neuron Disease in 2013 at Queensland Brain Institute, for which received Dean Commendation for research excellence. Following this, he worked with CRC for People Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders to develop cell line models for studying molecular mechanisms involved in Autism. In 2016, he was recruited to the Hu Laboratory within the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research (CJCADR) based at The University of Queensland to study synaptic transmission in neurological diseases. Under Dr Zhitao Hu’s supervision, Dr Narayanan was trained to utilize a nematode of 1 mm size, Caenorhabditis elegans to study synaptic processes associated with neuron maintenance and molecular mechanisms involved in learning and memory. In 2018, Dr Narayanan was awarded the Mervyn Thomas Mildenhall Research Fellowship to head the pre-clinical model (utilizing C. elegans) development, within the Neurobiology group based at ANZAC Research Institute. He is primarily involved in developing new C. elegans models for studying CMT and other neurodegenerative disorders. In addition, he utilizes C. elegans for drug development and for validating nanotechnology-based (quantum dots) drug delivery systems. Dr Narayanan has been successful is publishing in top-tier journals including Brain, Nature communications and Human molecular genetics. Since 2019, as an Chief Investigator/Associate Investigator, Dr Narayanan has been part of teams that has attracted ~ 3.975 million AUD in research funding through NHMRC and MRFF research grants.
Dr Kaitao Lai
Northcott Neuroscience Laboratory
ANZAC Research Institute
Concord Repatriation General Hospital
Dr Kaitao Lai is a Bioinformatics Hospital Scientist with
expertise in genome informatics, high throughput genomic data analysis, gene editing, machine learning as well as big data analysis and elastic cloud computing. His research interest encompasses the discovery of novel neuropathy genes and understanding structural variation causing inherited peripheral neuropathies such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT). He is currently working on mutation discovery, such as structural variations causing inherited peripheral neuropathies, and analysis of Hi-C data and gene expression data from induced pluripotent stem cell technologies and animal model (C. elegans) for the newly discovered genes.
Dr Anthony Cutrupi
Northcott Neuroscience Laboratory
ANZAC Research Institute
Concord Repatriation General Hospital
Dr Anthony Cutrupi began working with the Northcott Neuroscience Laboratory at the ANZAC Research Institute in 2015 where he completed his Honours and subsequently, his PhD on the Molecular Genetics of Distal Hereditary Motor Neuropathies – focusing on understanding how DNA rearrangements caused axonal degeneration. In 2016, during his PhD candidature Anthony trained in in the United States in the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and iPSC-derived motor neuron technologies under A/Prof Mario Saporta at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He returned in 2017 where he established an iPSC program at the laboratory. After being awarded his PhD in 2020, Anthony commenced a postdoctoral position with the laboratory where he works to develop iPSC models of fatal and non-fatal motor neuron diseases to understand the pathobiology of axonal degeneration.
Dr Bianca Grosz
Northcott Neuroscience Laboratory
ANZAC Research Institute
Concord Repatriation General Hospital
Dr. Bianca Grosz is an early career researcher who completed her Doctor of Philosophy (Medicine) with the Northcott Neuroscience Laboratory in 2021. Since completing her PhD, Dr Grosz has led projects to identify novel disease genes and mutations in families with unsolved inherited neuropathies. She has expertise in a range of ‘wet lab’ molecular biology techniques, cell culture, and genomic data analysis. Dr Grosz is passionate about science communication and has taught genetic research methods to Masters-level students at the Brain and Mind Centre since 2018. Dr Grosz has presented her work at both national and international conferences through oral and poster presentations, including platform presentations at the Genetics Society of Australasia Conference (2021) and the Australian Society for Medical Research National Scientific Conference (2020). Dr Grosz was awarded the inaugural 2022 Concord Hospital ANZAC Research Institute Early Career Kickstarter Grant for her work determining the underlying genetics of Hereditary Sensory Neuropathy in Australia.
