Jennifer Byrne

Professor Jennifer Byrne is a Professor of Molecular Oncology at the School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, and Director of Biobanking at NSW Health Pathology. She holds leadership roles including former Acting Head of the Children's Cancer Research Unit at The Children's Hospital at Westmead and Deputy Director of the Kids Cancer Alliance. Her research focuses on biobanking operations, research publication integrity, and molecular oncology. Byrne has contributed to teaching modules on research integrity and molecular probes. She is a member of the Tour de Cure Grants Committee and the Automated Screening Working Group. Byrne was recognized by Nature in 2017 for her contributions to scientific integrity. Her work spans clinical and translational research, emphasizing ethical practices and reproducibility. She leads the PRIMeR group and is based at the NSW Health Statewide Biobank.

Education:

• Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours and University Medal) in Physiology and Neuroscience from University of Queensland
• PhD in Molecular Oncology from University of Queensland

Research Interests:

• Optimizing biobank operations to support biomedical research
• Integrity of research publications, particularly detecting fraud and paper mills
• Molecular mechanisms in childhood and adult cancers
• Development of tools for automated fact-checking in biomedical papers (e.g., Seek & Blastn)

Awards and Honours:

• One of Nature's 'Ten people who mattered' (2017)

Advising and Grants:

• Supervises students researching publication integrity and fraud detection
• Lead on grants addressing systematic fraud in under-studied genes and biobank sustainability

Labs/Teams:

• PRIMeR group (Publication and Research Integrity in Medical Research)
• NSW Health Statewide Biobank