Meet the High Performing Team
Science doesn't know borders as scientists can come from all walks of life. Our team brings together passionate researchers from a variety of backgrounds and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in research
Gavin Knott
Gavin earned his Ph.D. from the University of Western Australia where he studied under Prof. Charlie Bond and Prof. Archa Fox. In 2016 he moved to the University of California Berkeley as a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Prof. Jennifer Doudna. He started his own independent research group at Monash University in 2021.
Gavin is passionate about RNA, molecular evolution, and training the next generation of innovative scientists.
Rebecca Bamert
Staff members
Rebecca brings her protein chemistry expertise to the role of Lab Manager in the Knott lab. She currently leads a project exploring the diversity of proteins encoded in Archaeal and Borg genomes. Understanding the interplay between these systems, and their environment, and unearthing potential novel biotech tools along the way.
Cyntia Taveneau
Cyntia is a Research Fellow and cryo-electron microscopist in the Knott Lab. Cyntia is using her structural biology skillset to solve critical questions about the evolution of CRISPR-Cas and how we can better engineer CRISPR systems for applications.
Brooke Hayes
Brooke is a Research fellow and has a keen interest in bacterial persistence in polymicrobial environments. She is utilising her expertise in protein biochemistry to investigate the CRISPR-Cas13 nuclease family and their accessory proteins. Her research aims to uncover how these proteins impact host survival.
Nathan Chai
Nathan is a Research Scientist in the Knott Lab interested in applying CRISPR-Cas enzymes to solve real world problems. He is driving a project that looks to establish CRISPR point of care diagnostics for use in remote Australian communities in collaboration with Griffith University.
Manisha Treeby
Manisha is a Research Fellow in the Knott Lab with extensive experience in molecular biology and biochemistry. Manisha is working to reveal how CRISPR enzymes have evolved to have drastically different biophysical properties. Her work sets the stage to better engineer CRISPR enzymes for RNA detection and diagnostics applications.
Luis Valentin
Luis is a Research Fellow with expertise in environmental metagenomics, focusing on uncultured bacteria and archaea. In the Knott Lab, Luis integrates genomics and biochemistry with generative artificial intelligence to study archaea and mobile genetic elements that regulate nucleic acid machineries. His research aims to enhance our understanding of microbial adaptation and evolution while exploring the potential biotechnological applications of newly discovered proteins.
Marjan Hadian-Jazi
Marjan is a research fellow in the lab with a background in computer science and expertise in machine learning techniques. She leverages her programming skills to advance data analysis and artificial intelligence, contributing to the development of cutting-edge solutions in structural biology. Additionally, she is focused on creating novel methods for designing proteins using advanced AI methodologies.
Jovita D’Silva
Jovita is a research scientist and microbiologist that is focussed on meta-genomic and transcriptomic sequencing of samples from uncharted territory. Her project focusses on identifying potential non-coding RNA in Archaeal genomes. Besides this, she is also a fanatic of CRISPR-Cas, phage biology and bugs of all sorts.
Roland Calvert
Roland is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. After completing his Honours in the Knott Lab he is now pursuing a PhD to research how CRISPR-Cas enzymes specifically select and cut RNA. His work will provide key insights into catalysis to accelerate biotech applications.
Graduate students
Giovanni Leandri
Giovanni is a Ph.D. student in the Knott Lab studying novel bacterial defence systems. He is using a combination of bioinformatics, microbiology, and structural biology to describe their function and reveal their potential as tools for biotechnology.
Loki Sangalli
Loki is a Ph.D. student in the Knott Lab building on his Honours and summer research project to develop precise RNA targeting systems. He is now using directed evolution to engineer these systems for specific in vivo applications.
Alumni
Jenni Hayward
Emily To