Romana Stark

Romana works in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University as a Research Fellow.

My training commenced at the University of Vienna (Austria) where I completed a Science of Nutrition degree and was awarded my Master of Science in 2005.

My PhD specialized in endocrinology and metabolism with a particular focus on Diabetes. I conducted my PhD research training at Yale University under the guidance of two world leaders in diabetes/obesity research, Prof. Roden (German Diabetes Center, Germany) and Prof. Shulman (Yale University, USA). In Prof. Shulman's lab, I worked in mitochondrial metabolism and focused on how cells sense energy. I closely worked together with Prof. Shulman's research fellow at this time, A./Prof. Kibbey (Yale University, USA), a pioneer of the 'mitochondrial-GTP (mtGTP) theory' as an energy-sensor and an expert in isotopologue mass spectrometry. I learned to develop novel methodologies to address key research questions. For example, I designed a method to measure mitochondrial substrate flux using mass spectrometry. My research skills do not only include in vivo measurements of complex physiological parameters (e.g. rodent hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps), but also in vitro research in several cell systems and metabolomics using mass spectrometry. My PhD work focused on the role of mitochondrial PEPCK (PEPCK-M) in glucose homeostasis and raised novel aspects about its function, which was highlighted as a key discovery by its inclusion in the Journal of Biological Chemistry Thematic Minireview of PEPCK.

September 2009 I moved to Australia and joined A./Prof.. Watt (Monash University) as a research assistant in the field of lipid metabolism. Despite a brief pause due to my maternity leave, as well as completing my PhD thesis for the University in Vienna, I generated
promising preliminary data in my research interest to apply for an Early Career Fellowship and presented these preliminary data September 2011 at the MODI conference in Melbourne. Since January 2012 I started to work with A./Prof. Watt's collaborator Dr. Andrews (Monash University) to fulfill a postdoctoral position where I investigate lipid metabolism in the brain.