Rachael is a post-doctoral researcher working between Macquarie University in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in Sydney Australia and The Institute for Ethnomedicine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Her PhD examined the mechanisms of impaired degradation of oxidised proteins with a focus on the consequences for heart disease. Her current project is unravelling a role for the incorporation of non-native amino acids into neuronal proteins and how this might contribute to cell death, specifically with respect to sporadic MND or ALS. In particular, she is looking at the role of the cyanobacterial toxin BMAA and how it might contribute to ALS.
Rachael is a member of the editorial board of Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies. She is a reporter for The Skeptic Zone Podcast and blogs at the Skeptics Book of Pooh Pooh and Skeptics.com.au. She is also a vice president of the Australian Skeptics, and a member of Mystery Investigators science show for children. In 2010, Rachael won the Shorty Award in the Health category for the most interesting health and science information on Twitter. As an ex-graphic designer and copywriter, Rachael enjoys combining her love of science, art and social media as a means of communicating science to the public.
Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology Fellow of the Institute for Science in Medicine