Dr Justine Ellis

Dr Justine Ellis joined the Infection, Immunity & Environment research group at MCRI in 2007. Justine came from the Department of Physiology at the University of Melbourne, and her main focus lies in the area of genetics of complex diseases and human traits.

Justine is involved in the study of Type 1 diabetes, and an early language study looking at a large scale genetic analysis of speech and language disorders.

Justine has spent the majority of the last twelve months applying for grants and has secured internal grants plus three philanthropic grants including one from Arthritis Australia.

As well as being involved with current projects at MCRI, Justine wanted to lead a project of her own, and has begun a study into Juvenile Arthritis. The study looks at children both with and without the disease, and uses extensive questionnaires to explore environmental factors before the children became part of the study. Blood samples will be used to extract DNA to provide genetic information to use in conjunction with environmental data. Justine hopes that this study will lead the way to discovering the possible causes of the disease.