BSc, P. Grad BSc Honours (Class I), PhD, MASM, AFHEA.
Dr Joanne Macdonald is founder and co-director of BioCifer Pty Ltd. As Chief Technology Officer and Project Lead of a Medical Countermeasures Project, she is focusing on accelerating product manufacturing and commercialisation of BioCifer’s diagnostic technology suite.
Joanne has spent 20+ years developing innovative biotechnology products. After completing a PhD in Microbiology in 2003, she moved to Columbia University (NY, USA) where she co-developed game playing computer circuits made from DNA molecules. She also developed a cocaine antidote that has since completed Phase II clinical trials and received Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the USA FDA. Her research received funding from the USA NSF, DTRA, and industry. In 2012 Joanne returned to Australia to the University of the Sunshine Coast (QLD), where she began developing synthetic biology technology, including methods to rapidly detect disease without needing sophisticated equipment. She was awarded a Queensland Government Smart Futures Fellowship, funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the NFMRI, as well as the 2016 Rose-Anne Kelso award for women (Life Sciences Queensland) for her contributions to biomedical sciences.
Dr. Macdonald is passionate about diagnostics, synthetic biology, biotechnology and viruses. She is currently Chair of the Virology Special Interest Group for the Australian Society for Microbiology.