Associate Professor Karen MacKenzie

Associate Professor Karen MacKenzie leads research in the Cancer Research Unit at Children’s Medical Research Institute. With over 20 years of experience in basic, pre-clinical, and translational cancer research, her work focuses on exploiting the molecular biology of cancer cell immortality to develop more effective and less toxic cancer treatments. Specifically, she aims to improve outcomes for patients with rare cancers, including pediatric soft-tissue sarcomas, leukemia, and blood disorders.

A/Prof. MacKenzie is recognised for her foundational studies in telomere biology. Her research spans both in vivo and in vitro investigations, exploring molecular vulnerabilities and biomarkers associated with telomere maintenance activation in cancer cells. Her current research applies proteogenomic analyses, molecular and cell biology techniques and pre-clinical drug sensitivity tests to large panels of cancer models and patient samples. This work provides a critical pathway forward in the pursuit of therapeutics that target telomere biology, to ultimately broaden the scope of personalized medicine for rare and aggressive tumours that currently lack adequate treatment options.

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