Dr Chantal Kopecky

I obtained my PhD in Immunology at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria in the field of cardiovascular and lipoprotein biology in chronic kidney disease. Extending my work in Austria as junior Post-doctoral Fellow my research was further focused on linking molecular changes in lipid quality with clinical outcomes in cardiovascular high-risk patient populations.

After moving to Sydney in 2016, I was investigating metabolic and inflammatory complications in diabetes and cardiovascular disease at UNSW. Specifically, I utilised 3D lightsheet fluorescence imaging to visualise pathologic processes, immune cell involvement and disease progression in atherosclerosis and I was working on characterising impairments of skeletal muscle metabolism in the context of diabetes.

Working in the Pancreatic Cancer Translational Research Group at UNSW from 2018 - 2020, my research was focused on efficacy of drug delivery and novel therapeutic approaches in pancreatic cancer. Specific projects were aimed to investigate therapeutic targets to metabolically reprogramm the stroma in pancreatic cancer and the development of novel nanomedicines to deliver gene therapeutics to pancreatic tumours.

Currently, I am working in the field of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (Kilian Lab UNSW) with a specific focus on cancer mechanobiology and the development of novel 3D tumour micorenvironments.