Lorenzo Odierna

Dr Lorenzo Odierna is a lecturer and neuroscientist currently working towards understanding how the nervous system functions in health and disease. He joined the University of New England’s School of Science and Technology in 2025.

Dr Odierna completed his PhD at the University of Queensland in 2019 where he explored the role of down syndrome cell adhesion molecules on synaptic transmission and endosomal biology using fruit flies as a model organism. He then completed a short postdoctoral project at the University of Sydney where he investigated the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in treating neuromuscular diseases. In 2021, Dr Odierna was recruited to the Queensland Brain Institute to develop in vitro zebrafish neuron assays to study the function of genes associated with epilepsy and autism. From 2022-2025, he held a postdoctoral position at the University of Tasmania’s Menzies Institute where he investigated the mechanisms of neurodegeneration in motor neuron disease using laboratory rodent models.

Dr Odierna’s teaching areas focus on undergraduate and postgraduate neuroscience.

Units he currently coordinates:

NEUR330

NEUR530

NEUR502

Dr Odierna is interested in how genes and molecules contribute to the structure and function of brain cells and their connections, called synapses. He uses multi-disciplinary approaches to interrogate neuron and synapse physiology. Dr Odierna’s significant contributions to the field include discovery of a novel mechanism of synaptic homeostasis, uncovering a new signalling pathway utilised by down syndrome cell adhesion molecules, pioneering a novel protocol for long term culture of embryonic zebrafish brain cells, and revealing new factors underlying selective vulnerability of skeletal muscle in motor neuron disease.