Gabriela-Oana Bodea

Dr. Gabriela Bodea received her PhD in 2014 with highest honours (Summa cum laude) from the University of Bonn, Germany. Subsequently, Dr Bodea joined the Genome Plasticity and Disease group at the Mater Research Institute in Australia. Here, Dr. Bodea began investigating the role of LINE-1 retrotransposons, a class of mobile DNA elements colloquially referred to as "jumping genes", in creating genetic variability within neurons. In 2017, Dr. Bodea joined the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, where she is currently a Research Fellow in the Computational and Molecular Biology lab. Dr. Bodea's research aims to understand how the dynamic regulation of retrotransposons shapes neuronal identity in the mammalian brain and why certain neuronal subtypes are more susceptible to neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr Bodea's work has been supported by prestigious fellowships awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development. Dr. Bodea has published in top journals such as Nature Neuroscience, Cell Reports, Genome Research, and Development. Dr Bodea has also been involved in the training and mentorship of MSc and PhD students and participated in course coordination and lecturing activities.