Merja Joensuu

Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland

Dr Merja Joensuu is a neuroscientist and advanced imaging expert at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland.

She completed her PhD at University of Helsinki in 2014 followed by postdoctoral research at The University of Queensland. She has developed novel super-resolution imaging and image analysis tools to investigate how healthy neurons operate, gaining insights into the causes of complex brain disorders, with a particular focus on a childhood-onset hereditary spastic paraplegias, neuroparalytic toxins and respiratory and neurotropic viral infections.

In 2022, she established neuronal membrane and protein trafficking lab at AIBN, where she currently investigates the adaptability of neuronal energy metabolism and how it supports neuronal functions.