Dzung Do-Ha

Dzung Do-Ha is an Associate Research Fellow at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience, University of Wollongong, Australia. Their research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases including ALS/FTD, Alzheimer’s disease, and vanishing white matter disease. They specialize in developing induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models to study disease mechanisms and identify therapeutic targets. Dr. Do-Ha leads projects involving cellular modeling, drug repurposing, and advanced imaging techniques.

Current research interests include investigating ubiquitin proteasome system dysfunction in motor neurons, astrocyte-neuron interactions in neurodegeneration, and developing high-throughput screening platforms for cytoprotective drugs. They also explore biomolecular condensates as novel biomaterials and apply computational methods like deep learning for electrophysiological signal analysis.

Dr. Do-Ha has secured funding for equipment upgrades (e.g., IncuCyte SX5 live cell imaging) and optogenetic tools for MND research. They currently supervise three PhD students focusing on Alzheimer’s disease microglial function, ALS astrocyte roles, and neural progenitor cell guidance engineering.

Key achievements include pioneering iPSC differentiation protocols for cholinergic neurons and identifying cytoprotective drugs for vanishing white matter disease. Their work bridges stem cell biology, computational modeling, and translational drug discovery to address unmet clinical needs in neurodegenerative disorders.