Ana is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. She has a background in stem cell biology and nephrology, with a strong focus on human organoid systems —three-dimensional mini-organs on a dish. During her PhD, Ana used human stem cell-derived kidney organoids to model various kidney diseases in vitro. She also developed novel methods to generate kidney-like organoids directly from adult human cells, aiming to better replicate features of mature kidney tissue.

Ana joined Professor Ryan Lister’s lab at UWA to expand her expertise in genomics and epigenetics, with a particular focus on high-resolution approaches to define cell states and the application of bioinformatics to interpret complex multi-omic datasets. Her current research integrates epigenomics, single-cell technologies, and developmental biology to study gene expression dynamics and their regulatory mechanisms across multiple human tissues. By characterising the epigenetic landscapes and transcriptional profiles of human tissues, Ana aims to improve the accuracy and maturity of stem cell culture models. Her work contributes to a broader effort to enhance the utility of stem cell-derived systems for understanding human development and disease.