MENTEE – Nethmi Yapa

Nethmi undertook her bachelors in Biomedical science at Monash University. During her Honours year, under the guidance of Dr. Brent Neumann, she utilised the C. elegans model to study neurodegenerative,  mitochondrial disease biology. Following her employment as a research assistant in Dr. Neumann’s laboratory, she commenced a PhD in the field of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Monash University with a strong focus on mitochondrial disease.

Her research pertains to characterising mitochondrial disease related proteins important for mitochondrial function. Following characterisation studies, she aims to identify small molecules that will help alleviate disease phenotypes in the hope of providing more evidence based therapeutic options for patients with mitochondrial disease.