Karissa Barthelson
Dr Karissa Barthelson is a Race Against Dementia – Dementia Australia Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Flinders University. Her research investigates the shared molecular mechanisms linking childhood-onset and adult-onset dementias, using zebrafish models and multi-omics approaches to uncover early disease processes.
She completed her PhD at the University of Adelaide, where she used CRISPR-edited zebrafish to study the effects of familial Alzheimer’s disease mutations, identifying disrupted mitochondrial energy production as an early hallmark of disease. Since then, she has established and characterised zebrafish models of Sanfilippo syndrome (MPS III), revealing conserved lysosomal and cellular stress pathways across subtypes.
Her work aims to bridge rare and common dementias to identify shared therapeutic opportunities, and she has been recognised with multiple national awards for excellence in genetics and neuroscience research.
Abstracts this author is presenting:
