Michael Lardelli

Associate Professor Michael Lardelli is affiliated with the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide, within the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology. He holds an academic rank of Associate Professor and manages the University's Drosophila melanogaster facility. His research focuses on investigating Alzheimer's disease and childhood dementia (Sanfilippo syndrome) using zebrafish and fruit fly models. Key techniques include transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to study disease mechanisms, particularly mutations in the PRESENILIN 1 gene and their effects on energy metabolism. Collaborations with bioinformatician Karissa Barthelson enhance analysis of multi-omics data.

Research projects combine molecular biology, genome editing, and behavioral assays, with recent expansions into Drosophila models. His work explores shared pathogenic mechanisms between Alzheimer's and Sanfilippo syndromes, including oxidative stress responses and mitochondrial dysfunction. Notable contributions include developing zebrafish models for neurodegenerative diseases and creating tools like the tadar R/Bioconductor package for transcriptome analysis.

Lardelli's lab actively engages in grant submissions and supervises higher-degree research candidates. The facility oversees Drosophila husbandry standards critical to experimental reproducibility. Despite no explicit awards listed, his publications reflect significant contributions to neurodegenerative disease research methodologies and cross-species disease modeling.