Dr Joanna Achinger-Kawecka

Laboratory Head

SAiGENCI, University of Adelaide, Australia

Biography

Dr Joanna Achinger-Kawecka is a Group Leader at the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI) within the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Adelaide. Her lab integrates experimental and bioinformatics approaches to explore the principles of 3D genome folding and gene deregulation in cancer. A key focus of her research is understanding the regulatory potential of 3D chromatin organisation in cancer, with the ultimate goal of exploiting these changes in novel therapeutic strategies.

Joanna completed her PhD in cancer epigenetics at the University of Tubingen, Germany, supported by the Marie Curie Fellowship. She then joined the Garvan Institute of Medical Research as a postdoctoral fellow, where she established the 3D Epigenome in Cancer group within the Epigenetics Research Program of Professor Susan Clark. Joanna has made significant contributions to the study of the 3D genome and epigenome in cancer, including the development of cutting-edge technologies and bioinformatics methods for mapping the 3D chromatin structure in cancer cells.

In 2024, Joanna joined SAiGENCI, where she established the 3D Chromatin Organisation laboratory. She has published in leading journals such as Nature Communications, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and Genome Research, and her research program is supported by peer-reviewed funding from NHMRC, PCFA, and NBCF.