Principal Investigator

Professor

Megan Munsie

Professor Megan Munsie focuses on understanding community attitudes to and expectations of regenerative medicine. Her work advances the development of policy and professional standards in stem cell and related research to enable their application.

Professor Megan Munsie
Professor
Megan Munsie
Location: MCRI, Australia
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Professor Megan Munsie is a highly experienced interdisciplinary researcher who combines her scientific expertise with a deep understanding of the ethical, legal, and societal implications of stem cell science and its clinical translation. Her innovative approach to science communication, public engagement and responsible innovation in regenerative medicine and related technologies is internationally recognized and underpinned by academic scholarship. Professor Munsie’s collaborative research explores the socio-cultural dynamics driving public expectation and the need for legal and ethical frameworks to address contemporary challenges in the field. Findings from her research have influenced policy reforms at an Australian and international level and informed the design and delivery of educational resources for patients, healthcare professionals, and the general public for over a decade.

Professor Munsie is principal investigator at the reNEW Centre for Stem Cell Medicine, Melbourne, and lead for reNEW’s PREPARE theme. Munsie is also the group leader of the Stem Cell Ethics and Policy Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), Melbourne. She is a highly experienced interdisciplinary researcher who combines her scientific expertise with a deep understanding of the ethical, legal, and societal implications of stem cell science and its clinical translation. She has been involved in stem cell research since the mid-1990s, has led public education and policy activities for a series of major Australian government funded programs in stem cell science, and currently heads the preparedness program for reNEW. She is also a professor of Emerging Technology (Stem Cells) at the Melbourne Medical School and co-lead of the University of Melbourne Collaborative for Better Health and Regulation.

Professor Munsie is the vice president of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research and serves on advisory committees to leading national and international bodies including the International Society for Stem Cell Research and International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy. She has extensive experience in biotechnology and has also worked for 10 years as a clinical embryologist in Australian IVF clinics. She completed her masters and PhD at Monash University, Melbourne and her science degree at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.

reNEW researchers have a strong track record of scientific excellence in stem cell biology

They have performed pioneering work in stem cell research spanning different tissue and cell types, different technological advances and different stages of applied research. This provides an unprecedented international opportunity to utilise the combined wealth of knowledge, complementary skills sets and clinical experience across reNEW to push stem cell discoveries toward translational outcomes.