Dr Fiona Bright, Research Fellow, Macquarie University.
Fiona completed a PhD in Medicine in 2017 at the University of Adelaide. Her PhD investigated the brainstem neuropathology underlying sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). During her PhD, Fiona was awarded an International SIDS Fellowship funded by Rivers Gift and spent 18 months at Harvard University Medical School/Boston Childrens Hospital. Following this Fiona received the 2017 Kaarene Fitzgerald SIDS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship funded by RedNose Australia where she continued to undertake SIDS research at the University of Adelaide. In 2018, Fiona sought new challenges and took up a Postdoctoral role with the NHMRC Funded ForeFront research group at the University of Sydney, to investigate neuroimmune-mediated mechanisms in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In 2020, Fiona was awarded a Macquarie University Research Fellowship (MQRF) to undertake research at the Dementia Research Centre with Prof Lars Ittner and Assoc Prof Yazi Ke. Fiona's current research interests include; neuroimmune and neuroinflammatory mechanisms/pathways underlying the neuropathology associated with neurodegeneration, with a specific focus on the innate immune complement cascade and TDP-43 pathology in frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.