
BSc Hons (Melb)
DPhil (Oxon)
Merlin Crossley is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Quality) at UNSW and Professor of Molecular Biology. He has also worked or studied at the Universities of Melbourne, Oxford, Harvard and Sydney. He has been recognized by numerous awards, including a Rhodes Scholarship and the Australian Academy of Science's Gottschalk Medal. He has made significant contributions to academic administration, serving as Dean at UNSW since 2010, and previously having been Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research at the University of Sydney from 2006 to 2008.
We are interested in understanding the fundamental molecular mechanisms by which genes are controlled. Ultimately we hope to treat chronic diseases, such as sickle cell anaemia or diabetes, by turning on beneficial genes or repressing harmful genes.
Please contact my collaborator Kate.Quinlan@unsw.edu.au
BIOC2201 Principles of Molecular Biology (Advanced)
BABS3121 Molecular Biology of Nucleic Acids
BABS3281 Molecular Genomics
Board Member, Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC) 2013–present
Trust Member, Australian Museum 2012–2020
Board Member, New South Innovations 2011–2015
Council Member, European Molecular Biology Laboratory Australia Council 2011–2015
Board Member, Sydney Institute of Marine Science 2010-17
Advisory Committee, Australian Astronomical Observatory, 2017-2019
Board Member, The Conversation (Chair of Editorial Board) 2019-present
Board Member, UNSW Press (NewSouth Publishing) 2015-present (Chair from 2019-present)
Rhodes Scholarship 1987
Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Roche Medal 1999
Royal Society of NSW Sir Edgeworth David Medal 2000
Australian Academy of Science Gottschalk Medal 2002
Julian Wells Medal, Lorne Genome Conference 2010
Fellow Queen’s College, Melbourne 2014
Fellow Royal Society of New South Wales 2014
NSW Premier's Prize for Medical Biological Sciences 2020
Australia Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Lemberg Medal 2021
Fundamental mechanisms of gene regulation with a view to using the information to treat human genetic diseases
My Research Supervision
Vala Nejad Safari
Mahdi Haddad
Michael O'Dea
Anthea On-Fai Lee
Sonia Goozee
Ramyashree Prasanna Kumar
Annalise Psaila
Henry Bell
Emily Vohralik