Dr Emma Rybalka

Australia

Dr Emma Rybalka is a Senior Research Fellow (Skeletal Muscle Biology) and Lecturer (Developmental Biology) at Victoria University and the University of Melbourne and directs the Inherited and Acquired Myopathies Program at the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science in Melbourne, Australia. Her research is focused on targeting mitochondrial and metabolic systems to treat skeletal muscle wasting, particularly in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and cachexia caused by anti-cancer chemotherapy. Her PhD research illuminated a mitochondrial Complex I deficiency in muscles from dystrophin-deficient mdx mice, and consequently mitochondria as druggable targets to treat DMD. This work has instigated ongoing collaborations with Santhera Pharmaceuticals, Mitochondrial Concepts and Epirium Bio. Dr Rybalka has established pre-clinical drug efficacy and safety testing capacity for DMD within her lab, including a colony of dystrophic mdx mice. Her team uses a range of basic and applied techniques including strength, locomotor and behaviour assessment, respirometry/calorimetry, and imaging on live animals; cell and tissue culture, live cell imaging, immuno-/histological and molecular studies, and mitochondrial function using Seahorse extracellular flux.

Dr Rybalka has published >40 research articles and received grant funding of >AUD$1m, including a competitive international ideas grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association  (USA). She is an active reviewer for many journals and funding agencies, is a member of TREAT-NMD, is course chair of the Biomedicine degree at Victoria University and sits on the institutional Animal Ethics Committee.