Jozef Gecz

Jozef Gécz, PhD is Head of Neurogenetics, Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide and member of the Healthy Mothers, Babies and Children theme, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI).

Dr Gécz completed his studies at the Comenius University and PhD at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, Slovakia under the supervision of Dr Ferak and subsequently trained for two years with Professor M Fontes in Marseille, France as an INSERM postdoctoral fellow.

In 1994 he joined the group of Professor G Sutherland in Adelaide where he discovered or contributed to the discovery of numerous (>100) genes for various forms of X-chromosome linked intellectual disability and epilepsy (e.g. FMR2, ARX, CDKL5, PHF6, UPF3B, USP9X, TBC1D24, IQSEC2 or PCDH19). Dr Gécz published in excess of 270 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr Gécz is an active member of various professional societies (ASHG, ESHG, HGSA, HUGO, ASMR, NARF, ASBMB, RCPA) and national and international committees. He has served, among others, on the International Congress of Genetics (2003) and Human Genetics (2006, 2011, 2016), as well as several HUGO meetings' scientific program organising committees.

The main research interest of Dr Gecz’s group is gene identification and molecular/functional characterisation in a broad range of neurological disorders and intellectual disability, epilepsy , autism and cerebral palsy in particular.