(MENAFN- The Conversation)

• Associate Professor, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University

Profile Articles Activity

A/Prof Jennifer Zenker's scientific journey started at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), where she obtained her PhD in Neurobiology. Next stop was Australia, starting her PostDoc at EMBL Australia (Monash University), shortly followed by a move to Singapore to IMCB, A*STAR. During her Postdoc, A/Prof Zenker specialised on live imaging of early mouse embryos which led to several seminal discoveries, including first author publications in Science (2017), Cell (2018) and Nature Protocols (2017). She was also awarded three international postdoctoral fellowships, from the prestigious Human Frontier Science Fellowship, German and Swiss National Science Foundation.

She then embarked as an independent group leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI, Monash). Her research group contributed to the generation of iBlastoids (Nature, 2021) and discovered RNA asymmetries in early mouse embryos (Nature Communications, 2023). In 2019, she was awarded the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Azrieli Scholarship. This was followed by an NHMRC Ideas Grant (2020) and an NHMRC EL2 Investigator Grant (2021). As a real mark of her scientific excellence, A/Prof Zenker received the Sylvia&Charles Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship (2023), the Eduard Kellenberger Medal (2023) and the ANZSCDB Emerging Leader Award (2025).

Experience

• –present A/Professor, Monash University
• 2015–2018 Postdoctoral research fellow, IMCB/A*STAR Singapore
• 2013–2015 Postdoctoral research fellow, EMBL Australia, Monash University
• 2008–2012 Research assistant, Max Planck Institute Tuebingen (Germany)

Education

• 2025 Monash University, Diploma/Leadership&Management
• 2012 University of Lausanne, PhD/Biology
• 2007 University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim (Germany), Diploma/Biology

Publications

• 2025 Delta tubulin stabilizes male meiotic kinetochores and aids microtubule remodeling and fertility, Journal of Cell Biology
• 2025 Imaging spatiotemporal RNA and protein dynamics in mouse embryos, Methods in Molecular Biology, Springer Nature
• 2024 Epsilon tubulin is an essential determinant of microtubule-based structures in male germ cells, EMBO Reports
• 2024 Seeing is believing: Visualising the formation of monozygotic twins in IVF, Journal of Reproductive Medicine Gynaecology & Obstetrics
• 2024 Systematic loss of function screens identify pathway specific functional circular RNAs, Nature Cell Biology
• 2024 Cellular mechanisms of monozygotic twinning: clues from assisted reproduction, Human Reproduction Update
• 2023 Apicobasal RNA asymmetries regulate cell fate in the early mouse embryo, Nature Communications
• 2022 Beyond the centrosome: The mystery of microtubule organising centres across mammalian preimplantation embryos, Current Opinion in Cell Biology
• 2021 Microtubule-dependent subcellular organisation of pluripotent cells, Development
• 2021 Delta and epsilon tubulin in mammalian development, Trends in Cell Biology
• 2021 Modelling human blastocysts by reprogramming fibroblasts into iBlastoids, Nature
• 2021 Spatiotemporal subcellular manipulation of the microtubule cytoskeleton in the living preimplantation mouse embryo using photostatins, JoVE
• 2018 Expanding Actin Rings Zipper the Mouse Embryo for Blastocyst Formation, Cell
• 2018 The role of peripheral myelin protein 2 protein in remyelination, Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology
• 2018 Instructions for assembling the early mammalian embryo, Developmental Cell
• 2017 Quantifying transcription factor-DNA binding in single cells in vivo with photoactivatable fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, Nature Protocols
• 2017 How cells change shape and position in the early mammalian embryo, Current Opinion in Cell Biology
• 2017 A microtubule-organizing center directing intracellular transport in the early mouse embryo, Science
• 2015 Lack of GDAP1 induces neuronal calcium and mitochondrial defects in a knockout mouse model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, PLoS Genetics
• 2014 TUBB5 and its disease-associated mutations influence the terminal differentiation and dendritic spine densities of cerebral cortical neurons, Human Molecular Genetics
• 2014 The role of peripheral myelin protein 2 in lipid homeostasis of myelinating Schwann cells, Glia
• 2013 PLEKHG5 deficiency leads to an intermediate form of autosomal-recessive Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, Human Molecular Genetics
• 2013 Novel pathogenetic pathways in diabetic neuropathy, Trends in Neuroscience
• 2012 Altered distribution of juxtaparanodal Kv1-channels mediates peripheral nerve hyperexcitability in type 2 diabetes mellitus, Journal of Neuroscience
• 2010 Global transcriptional programs in peripheral nerve endoneurium and DRG are resistant to the onset of type 1 diabetic neuropathy in Ins2Akita/+ mice, PLoS One
• 2010 SH3TC2, a protein mutant in Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, links peripheral nerve myelination to endosomal recycling, Brain
• 2009 SH3TC2/KIAA1985 protein is required for proper myelination and the integrity of the node of Ranvier in the peripheral nervous system, PNAS

Grants and Contracts

• 2023 Sylvia&Charles Viertel Felloship Role: Funding Source:
• 2022 NHMRC EL2 Investigator Grant Role: CIA Funding Source: National Health and Medical Research Council
• 2021 NHMRC Ideas Grant Role: CIA Funding Source: National Health and Medical Research Council
• 2019 CIFAR Azrieli Scholarship Role: CIA Funding Source:

Professional Memberships

• Australian and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (ANZSCDB)
• American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
• Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Society (AMMS)
• Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ)
• Scientists in Reproductive Technology (SIRT)
• International Federation for Cell Biology (IFCB)
• International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)

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