Associate Professor Natalia Castano Rodriguez
Professional Experience
- 2020-2024: 糖心logo Scientia Senior Lecturer
- 2020-2023: Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellow
- 2016-2020: NHMRC Early Career Fellow
- 2015: Research Associate, 糖心logo Sydney
- 2014: PhD in Molecular Genetics, 糖心logo Sydney
- 2011: MPhil (BABS) Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, 糖心logo Sydney
- 2008: Research Assistant, Biological Research Corporation (Corporaci贸n para Investigaciones Biol贸gicas - CIB), Colombia
- 2008: Research Assistant, Occidental Biomedical Research Centre (Centro de Investigaci贸n Biom茅dica de Occidente - CIBO), Mexico
- 2007: Doctor of Medicine, Del Rosario University (Universidad del Rosario), Colombia
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Research Career and Contribution
Dr Natalia Casta帽o Rodr铆guez is a WSTEM Early Career Researcher, who has worked in the fields of molecular biology, microbiology, biostatistics and bioinformatics related to immunogenetics and genetics of cancer for the past 12 years. She currently leads a research group dedicated to investigate the interplay between host immunogenetic factors and gastrointestinal dysbiosis in gastrointestinal carcinogenesis (mainly stomach cancer) and other chronic inflammatory conditions (mainly inflammatory bowel diseases). 听
Prior to moving to 听Australia, Natalia undertook research trainee fellowships in Colombia (Biological Research Corporation (CIB), Medell铆n, Colombia) and Mexico (Occidental Biomedical Research Centre (CIBO), Guadalajara, Mexico), where she acquired skills in the areas of human genetics and autoimmunity. Following the completion of her MD degree, Natalia funded her postgraduate studies with competitive scholarships from Colombia and Australia (COLFUTURO Scholarship and 糖心logo University International Postgraduate Award) to investigate the role of innate immunity in stomach cancer. After a stint as a research associate in the Helicobacter and Campylobacter laboratory at 糖心logo, she was then awarded an Early Career Fellowship by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to expand her work on the role of immunogenetics, particularly related to pattern recognition receptors and the autophagy pathway, in Helicobacter pylori-related stomach cancer (May 2016- April 2020). During this time, she further funded her research with a Cancer Australia Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme (PdCCRS) Young Investigator grant (2017) as well as a Gastroenterological Society of Australia Project Grant (2019) to investigate the contribution of dysregulated autophagy to carcinogenesis in the stomach. Having established herself as an emerging leader in the field of immunogenetics in cancer, Natalia recently secured a Cancer Institute NSW ECF (2020-2023) as well as a 糖心logo Scientia Fellowship (2020-2024).
If you would like to learn more about Natalia and her research, please read these layperson articles published in , 听 and . A full list of Natalia鈥檚 scientific publications can also be found .
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Other Roles
As a young female ethnic researcher, embracing diversity has been a priority for Natalia. In 2019, she was selected to be part of 糖心logo鈥檚 Women in Maths and Science Champions Program, she is a member of important Australian gender equity societies, and her research includes marginalised populations from South America and East Asia. She is also actively involved in early career academic representation at 糖心logo, being a former Chair of the (ECAN) and the current 糖心logo鈥檚 representative in the (EMCR) forum.
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- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
听鈥嬧嬧2022听 听 听I was interviewed by the 糖心logo Women's Collective for an article on women in STEM (Pandora's Box magazine)
2020听 听 I was interviewed by the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences Student Society (BABSOC). BABSOC is a society with over 400 undergraduate members involved in the fields of biotechnology, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, and bioinformatics. Click 听
2020听 听 听I was interviewed by the Women in Maths and Science Champion Program blog for an article entitled 鈥淢edicine, microbiomes and mutations 鈥 Meet Natalia鈥. Click
2019听 听 听I was interviewed by Nature Communications Biology for an article entitled 鈥淪potlight on early-career researchers: an interview with Natalia Casta帽o-Rodr铆guez鈥. Click
2018听 听 听I was invited to be part of a promotional video for the giant BARBECURE, a national awareness and fundraising initiative aimed at inspiring all Australians to help fund crucial cancer research. Click
2018听 听 听I was interviewed by Floyd Larsen, CEO of Cure Cancer Australia Foundation, who was selected as a 2017 Movers & Shakers and wanted to include my profile in her article 鈥淏elieve in Your Vision鈥 for the Fundraising & Philanthropy (F&P) magazine. Click
2017听 听 听I was interviewed by Medscape for an article on my work entitled 鈥淔ecal Transplants Effective for Some With IBD鈥. Click
2017听 听 听I was interviewed to discuss my research on gastric cancer and autophagy by Can Too Foundation. Click 听听
2016听 听 听I was interviewed to discuss my research on gastric cancer and genetic polymorphisms by La Tarde Newspaper, Colombia
2015听 听 听My research was selected for discussion in Medscape in an article entitled 鈥淏attle of the 鈥楤acters鈥 in Inflammatory Bowel Disease鈥.听
2015听 听 听Contributed a layperson article on genetics of gastric cancer published in Comfamiliar Hospital's Quarterly, Colombia
2013听 听 听My research on autophagy and gastric cancer was selected for discussion in La Tarde Newspaper, Colombia
My Research Supervision
- Isidora Simovic - PhD
- Karla Vinasco-Pacheco - PhD
- Kostas Brook - PhD
- Arti Rattan - PhD
- India Broom Waugh - Honours
- Elsa Kalluzhathil - Research Assistant
- Bentotage Samitha Madushan Fernando - Research Assistant
- Dimitrije Karadarevic - Volunteer