Dr Minni (Minna-Liisa) Änkö heads the Functional RNAomics laboratory, holding a joint appointment at the Centre of Reproductive Health and Centre for Cancer Research.

Minni obtained her PhD from the Åbo Akademi University in Finland. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Cell Biology and Genetics, in Dresden, Germany 2006-2011, supported by a Sigrid Juselius Foundation Post-doctoral Fellowship. Minni moved to Australia in 2011 when she received a Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation Fellowship, and worked as a visiting scientist at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University. She then continued her research as a senior research fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (2012-2013) until establishing her independent laboratory at the Monash University in 2014 and relocating to Hudson Institute in 2018.

The Functional RNAomics laboratory investigates gene regulation via RNA processing by combining wet and dry lab approaches. The team aims to crack the RNA code of cells by investigating how RNA binding proteins tune the gene expression output in various types of stem cells, during early development and in specialised cell types. Importantly, by understanding the underlying mechanisms of RNA regulation we gain critical insights into how aberrations in the RNA machinery result in genetic disorders and cancer.

Minni is a passionate ambassador of RNA research as well as the significance of RNA regulation in human health. She is the Victorian representative for the RNAoz, a special interest group in RNA biology in Australia and convenes meRNA club, a seminar series supported by the International RNA Society.