Modelling mitochondrial dysfunction in disease

Dr Tara Richman

Loss of the RNA-binding protein TACO1 causes late-onset mitochondrial dysfunction in mice

The 2017 recipient of the Rigby Research Prize was Dr Tara Richman from The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research for her research published in Nature Communications (Richman et al., Nat Commun. 2016; 7: 11884).

Rigby Research Prize

The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, The University of Western Australia

2017 – 2018

$5,000

Dr Richman’s research aims to model mitochondria dysfunction in disease, which can cause physical, developmental and cognitive disorders with no known cure. The Rigby Research Prize allowed Dr Richman to attend a national and international conference. In August 2018, she attended Queenstown Research Week, New Zealand’s biggest annual scientific meeting, as an invited speaker.

The ability to present internationally is a rare opportunity and the Rigby Research Prize travel funding allowed Dr Richman to accept the invitation. During the conference, Dr Richman was able to meet international scientists and share her research. In November 2018, Dr Richman attended the Aussiemit conference held in Melbourne.

This is Australia’s only mitochondrial science meeting and was a great opportunity for her to meet with her collaborators from Professor David Thorburn’s laboratory with whom she published with in 2017 and with her current collaborators from Dr Ben Kile’s laboratory. Since receiving the Rigby Research Prize, Dr Richman has co-authored four further publications in the field.