Dr Irene Gallego Romero

Melbourne Integrative Genomics and School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne

Dr Irene Gallego Romero studies how changes in DNA sequence contribute to human and primate evolution, whether recent or ancient. Her research is both computational and experimental, spanning large datasets from 100s of individuals to in-depth looks at individual cells. Currently a senior lecturer in systems genetics at the School of BioSciences and the Centre for Stem Cell Systems at the University of Melbourne, she was awarded a Sir Henry Wellcome Trust Fellowship as a postdoctoral researcher to establish pluripotent stem cell lines from chimpanazees as a resource for primate genetics. Since moving to Australia in 2017 her research has focused on the evolutionary challenges of peopling Island Southeast Asia.