Emily Willis

Dr. Emily Willis is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) within the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Queensland. She is part of the Vukovic Laboratory for Neuroimmunology and Cognition, focusing on the functional consequences of neuro-immune interactions in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Her work demonstrates that rejuvenating microglia can drive neuroprotection and repair via the IL-6 signaling pathway, challenging previous assumptions about their role in injury. Willis holds a PhD in Neuroimmunology from UQ (2020).

Her research interests include microglia biology, neuroinflammation, TBI outcomes, and cognitive recovery mechanisms. Key findings include identifying IL-6 as a therapeutic target for brain repair and showing that microglia can be harnessed to promote recovery after injury.

Selected awards include the Mark Rowe Award and Paxinos-Watson Award (both ANS 2021), and the Postdoctoral Investigator Award (NARF/NHMRC 2020). Her publications span high-impact journals like Cell and The Journal of Neuroscience, with work on microglia depletion protocols and repopulation techniques widely cited.

Willis' contributions include developing methodologies for studying microglia dynamics and their role in brain repair. She has explored complementary pathways in ALS (TDP-43 models) and the impact of exercise on microglial rejuvenation in aging brains.