People

Current members:

Irene Gallego Romero, PhD
Principal investigator
irene [dot] gallego [at] unimelb [dot] edu [dot] au

I’m a human evolutionary biologist with training in genomics, biological anthropology and pluripotent stem cell biology. My research interests include understanding evolutionary adaptions at both short and long time spans – those that have occurred in specific human populations, but also those that separate us from our close evolutionary relatives. I’m also fascinated by issues surrounding the practice of science today – funding allocation, career progression and levels of inclusion and diversity of the scientific workforce. You can download my current CV here (current as of Jan 2021).

I was a speaker at TEDxNTU in 2016. You can watch the recording here.

Katalina Bobowik
PhD student
kbobowik [at] student [dot] unimelb [dot] edu [dot] au
Kat’s interests lie at the intersection of human health and genomics. Her current focus is on characterising regulatory variation and selection in traditional populations of Island Southeast Asia.

Davide Vespasiani
PhD student
dvespasiani [at] student [dot] unimelb [dot] edu [dot] au
Davide is working on understanding how introgression has shaped the genomes of peoples in Island Southeast Asia.

Neke Ibeh
PhD student
oibeh [at] student [dot] unimelb [dot] edu [dot] au
Neke is applying her considerable bioinformatics skills to various genetic sets from Indonesia.

Laura Coop
PhD student, co-supervised with Andrew Pask.
Current project: deciphering the mechanisms of convergent evolution between the thylacine and the wolf.

Ashlee Hutchinson
PhD student, co-supervised with Andrew Pask.
Current project: establishing the fat tailed dunnart as a model system in developmental biology

Navya Shukla
Honours student, Genetics

Co-supervised students:

Sabrina Islam – PhD student, Wells laboratory/Centre for Stem Cell Systems.

Joining the lab:

If you are looking for an honours, masters or PhD position, email me in the first instance, and we can chat to see if there’s any suitable positions available. You should also read through our lab guidelines document to get a feel for the lab and whether it is the right environment for you.

Past members:

Isabela Alvim
Visiting PhD student

Nicolas Brucato
Visiting postdoctoral research fellow

Debbie Lee Boon Hui
Undergraduate researcher

Jenna Ortoleva
Undergraduate researcher

River Kano
Masters in Biological Sciences

Akihito Tomida
Research assistant

María Miguel Matorra
Undergraduate researcher

Anna Orteu
Research student

And… back from our days in Singapore!
Pallavi Srivastava
Project officer/lab manager.

Ng Yan Ting
Project officer.

Leo Han Yun Sylvia
Final Year Project Undergraduate researcher.

Tan Wen Ting
Final Year Project Undergraduate researcher.

Phua Zi Jin Cheryl
Undergraduate URECA researcher.

Nguyen Thuan Tihn Sophia
CN Yang undergraduate scholar