Jennifer Zenker

1

Article

0

Comments

A/Prof Jennifer Zenker’s scientific journey started at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), where she obtained her PhD in Neurobiology. Next stop was Australia, starting her PostDoc at EMBL Australia (Monash University), shortly followed by a move to Singapore to IMCB, A*STAR. During her Postdoc, A/Prof Zenker specialised on live imaging of early mouse embryos which led to several seminal discoveries, including first author publications in Science (2017), Cell (2018) and Nature Protocols (2017). She was also awarded three international postdoctoral fellowships, from the prestigious Human Frontier Science Fellowship, German and Swiss National Science Foundation.

She then embarked as an independent group leader at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI, Monash). Her research group contributed to the generation of iBlastoids (Nature, 2021) and discovered RNA asymmetries in early mouse embryos (Nature Communications, 2023). In 2019, she was awarded the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Azrieli Scholarship. This was followed by an NHMRC Ideas Grant (2020) and an NHMRC EL2 Investigator Grant (2021). As a real mark of her scientific excellence, A/Prof Zenker received the Sylvia&Charles Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship (2023), the Eduard Kellenberger Medal (2023) and the ANZSCDB Emerging Leader Award (2025).

Experience

  • –present
    A/Professor, Monash University
  • 2015–2018
    Postdoctoral research fellow, IMCB/A*STAR Singapore
  • 2013–2015
    Postdoctoral research fellow, EMBL Australia, Monash University
  • 2008–2012
    Research assistant, Max Planck Institute Tuebingen (Germany)

Education

  • 2025 
    Monash University, Diploma/Leadership&Management
  • 2012 
    University of Lausanne, PhD/Biology
  • 2007 
    University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim (Germany), Diploma/Biology

Publications

  • 2025
    Delta tubulin stabilizes male meiotic kinetochores and aids microtubule remodeling and fertility, Journal of Cell Biology
  • 2025
    Imaging spatiotemporal RNA and protein dynamics in mouse embryos, Methods in Molecular Biology, Springer Nature
  • 2024
    Epsilon tubulin is an essential determinant of microtubule-based structures in male germ cells, EMBO Reports
  • 2024
    Seeing is believing: Visualising the formation of monozygotic twins in IVF, Journal of Reproductive Medicine Gynaecology & Obstetrics
  • 2024
    Systematic loss of function screens identify pathway specific functional circular RNAs, Nature Cell Biology
  • 2024
    Cellular mechanisms of monozygotic twinning: clues from assisted reproduction, Human Reproduction Update
  • 2023
    Apicobasal RNA asymmetries regulate cell fate in the early mouse embryo, Nature Communications
  • 2022
    Beyond the centrosome: The mystery of microtubule organising centres across mammalian preimplantation embryos, Current Opinion in Cell Biology
  • 2021
    Microtubule-dependent subcellular organisation of pluripotent cells, Development
  • 2021
    Delta and epsilon tubulin in mammalian development, Trends in Cell Biology
  • 2021
    Modelling human blastocysts by reprogramming fibroblasts into iBlastoids, Nature
  • 2021
    Spatiotemporal subcellular manipulation of the microtubule cytoskeleton in the living preimplantation mouse embryo using photostatins, JoVE
  • 2018
    Expanding Actin Rings Zipper the Mouse Embryo for Blastocyst Formation, Cell
  • 2018
    The role of peripheral myelin protein 2 protein in remyelination, Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology
  • 2018
    Instructions for assembling the early mammalian embryo, Developmental Cell
  • 2017
    Quantifying transcription factor-DNA binding in single cells in vivo with photoactivatable fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, Nature Protocols
  • 2017
    How cells change shape and position in the early mammalian embryo, Current Opinion in Cell Biology
  • 2017
    A microtubule-organizing center directing intracellular transport in the early mouse embryo, Science
  • 2015
    Lack of GDAP1 induces neuronal calcium and mitochondrial defects in a knockout mouse model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, PLoS Genetics
  • 2014
    TUBB5 and its disease-associated mutations influence the terminal differentiation and dendritic spine densities of cerebral cortical neurons, Human Molecular Genetics
  • 2014
    The role of peripheral myelin protein 2 in lipid homeostasis of myelinating Schwann cells, Glia
  • 2013
    PLEKHG5 deficiency leads to an intermediate form of autosomal-recessive Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, Human Molecular Genetics
  • 2013
    Novel pathogenetic pathways in diabetic neuropathy, Trends in Neuroscience
  • 2012
    Altered distribution of juxtaparanodal Kv1-channels mediates peripheral nerve hyperexcitability in type 2 diabetes mellitus, Journal of Neuroscience
  • 2010
    Global transcriptional programs in peripheral nerve endoneurium and DRG are resistant to the onset of type 1 diabetic neuropathy in Ins2Akita/+ mice, PLoS One
  • 2010
    SH3TC2, a protein mutant in Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, links peripheral nerve myelination to endosomal recycling, Brain
  • 2009
    SH3TC2/KIAA1985 protein is required for proper myelination and the integrity of the node of Ranvier in the peripheral nervous system, PNAS

Grants and Contracts

  • 2023
    Sylvia&Charles Viertel Felloship
    Role:
    Funding Source:
  • 2022
    NHMRC EL2 Investigator Grant
    Role:
    CIA
    Funding Source:
    National Health and Medical Research Council
  • 2021
    NHMRC Ideas Grant
    Role:
    CIA
    Funding Source:
    National Health and Medical Research Council
  • 2019
    CIFAR Azrieli Scholarship
    Role:
    CIA
    Funding Source:

Professional Memberships

  • Australian and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (ANZSCDB)
  • American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
  • Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Society (AMMS)
  • Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ)
  • Scientists in Reproductive Technology (SIRT)
  • International Federation for Cell Biology (IFCB)
  • International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)

Contact Jennifer for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision