Megan Penno

Dr Megan Penno

Grant-Funded Researcher (C)

Adelaide Medical School

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Dr Megan Penno (BSc Hons PhD, University of Melbourne) is the Chief Operating Officer for the Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) study and Grant-Funded Research at the University of Adelaide, Australia. ENDIA is the first study in the world to explore how environmental exposures from pregnancy through early life may contribute to, or protect against, the development of childhood type 1 diabetes. Dr Penno was appointed to manage ENDIA at the project’s inception in 2012 and has played an integral role in establishing and expanding the cohort, which completed recruitment of 1500 mother-infant dyads in late 2019. Drawing on her skills in ‘omics research, Dr Penno was the first author of the published ENDIA protocol and developed the sample and data collection strategies that will underpin all future investigations involving ENDIA participants. She has contributed to numerous successful national and international funding applications relating to ENDIA with a total value exceeding AU$30m over the past 5 years. Her research interests include biomarker discovery for disease risk stratification. 

For more information about the ENDIA study please visit our website at http://www.endia.org.au

2023 ENDIA Study Scientific Retreat

 

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2019 - ongoing Grant Funded Researcher University of Adelaide
    2015 - 2018 Academic Research Clinical Coordinator University of Adelaide
    2012 - 2014 Senior Clinical Research Coordinator University of Adelaide
    2007 - 2012 Post-doctoral fellow University of Adelaide
    2006 - 2006 Grant Funded Scientist Hanson Institute

  • Awards and Achievements
    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2022 Research Award Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Executive Dean's Award for Research Excellence (mid-career) The University of Adelaide Australia -
    2020 Award IDS 17th Congress High-Scoring Abstracts Award Immunology of Diabetes Society China -
    2018 Award CUDOS 2018 Conference poster prize Sidra Medicine Qatar -
    2018 Nomination JDRF Australia & Macquarie Group Foundation Future Leader Program JDRF Australia Australia -
    2014 Award Robinson Research Institute Travel Award University of Adelaide, Robinson Research Institute Australia $1,100
    2011 Award Research Career Development Network (RCDN) Workshop Award University of Adelaide, School of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences Australia $2,000
    2008 Award Overseas Conference Scheme Travel Award University of Adelaide, Faculty of Science Australia $2,000
    2004 Award American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Travel Award The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology United States US$1,000
    2004 Award Dawson Bursary The University of Melbourne Australia $6,000
    2004 Award School of Botany Travel Scholarship The University of Melbourne, School of Botany Australia -
    2003 Scholarship Sir John and Lady Higgins Research Scholarship The University of Melbourne Australia $70,000

  • Language Competencies
    Language Competency
    English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2003 - 2007 University of Melbourne Australia PhD
    1999 - 2002 University of Melbourne Australia BSc (Honours)

  • Research Interests
    Autoimmunity Clinical Microbiology Clinical Trials Endocrinology & Metabolism Medical Biochemistry: Proteins and Peptides Child and Adolescent Health Early Origins of Health Pregnancy and Birth

I have significantly contributed to numerous successful funding applications totalling >AU$31 million in the past 5 years:

  • 2023 Croatian Science Foundation (Hrvatske zaklade za znanost), Research projects (Istraživački projekti) ‘Glycosylation of complement component C3 in development of type 1 diabetes and autoimmunity’ (Gornik O, Keser T, Rudman N, Kifer D, Pape-Medvidovic E, Vucic Lovrencic M, Penno M, Morahan G). AU$309,284.51

  • 2023 NHMRC EU Collaborative Research Grant ‘Characterising viruses that promote the development of type 1 diabetes’ (Kim KW, Craig M, Foster C, Walker G, Harrison L, Rawlinson W, Couper J, Penno M, Mallitt K, Oakey H). AU$499,999.45

  • 2023 JDRFA T1DCRN and Helmsley Charitable Trust Partnership Establishing immune, endocrine, and exocrine signatures of type 1 diabetes progression in longitudinally sampled peripheral blood from the ENDIA nested case control study (Wasserfall C, Couper J, Penno M). AU$226,897.31

  • 2023 JDRFA T1DCRN and Helmsley Charitable Trust Partnership Deep milk: comprehensive multi-omics to resolve the role of human breastmilk in type 1 diabetes risk (Burugupalli S, Hamilton-Williams E, Harrison L, Oakey H, Penno M, Thomson R, Wentworth J, Huynh D, Meikle P, Packer N, Paul S, George A). AU$795,973.96

  • 2023 JDRFA T1DCRN and Helmsley Charitable Trust Partnership ‘The effect of metabolism in pregnancy upon islet autoimmunity and pancreatic beta cell function in offspring’ (Meek C, Couper J, Penno M, Hamilton-Williams E, Wentworth J). AU$792,694.17

  • 2023 JDRFA T1DCRN and Helmsley Charitable Trust Partnership ‘Familial Sharing of Gut Microbes and Mobile Genetic Elements in the ENDIA Study’ (Vatanen T, Harrison L, Penno M). AU$401,065.74

  • 2023 JDRFA T1DCRN and Helmsley Charitable Trust Partnership Epigenomic ‘Mechanisms of the Maternal Protection in Type 1 Diabetes’ (Johnson R, Penno M, Norris J, Kechris K, Barry S, Couper J, Wong Y). AU$799,998.64

  • 2023 Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust - Research Grant ‘Pancreatic exocrine function and the progression to type 1 diabetes in young children in ENDIA’ (Couper J, Penno M, Linke R, Gent R, Rankin W, Oakey H, Wentworth J, Haynes A). AU$316,027

  • 2023 JDRF Australia 'Australian Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network & The Helmsley Charitable Trust – ENDIA Follow Up 2023 - 2025' (Couper J, Penno M, Craig M, Wentworth J, Colman P, Harrison L, Davis E, Haynes A, Harris M, Soldatos G, Oakey H, Sinnott R, Thomson R, McGorm K, Vuillermin P). AU$8,977,646

  • 2022 NHMRC 'A microRNA NanoChip Technology for Predicting Childhood Type 1 Diabetes Risk' (Hardikar A, Couper J, Dubey A, Penno M, Joglekar M). AU$390,167

  • 2021 JDRF Australia 'Using 3D genomics to functionally connect genetic risk of Type 1 diabetes to the genes that drive loss of immune tolerance' (Barry S, Wong Y, Penno M, Sadlon T, Couper J, Breen J, Oakey H). AU$505,085

  • 2021 The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust 'CGM Assessments of ENDIA Children' (Haynes A, Davis E, Couper J, Penno M). US$230,319

  • 2021 The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust 'ENDIA Expanded Support' (Penno M, Couper J, Oakey H, Thomson R, Ashwood P, Brown J, Sinnott R, Harrison L, Colman P, Wentworth J, Soldatos G, Vuillermin P, Craig M, Rawlinson W, Harris M, Davis E, Haynes A). US$1,428,543

  • 2021 The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust 'ENDIA Science Continuation' (Couper J, Penno M, Harrison L, Craig M, Oakey H, Kim K, Rawlinson W, Morahan G). US$2,067,727

  • 2020 Diabetes SA Research Grant "Deep profiling for early biomarkers of progression to islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes in mother-infant dyads participating in the ENDIA study" (CIA Penno, CIB Couper, CIC Harrison, CID Wentworth, CIE Knight). AU$100,000

  • 2020 JDRF, T1DCRN and The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust Request for Application "Australian Type 1 Diabetes Clinical research Network – ENDIA 2020/2022" (3-SRA-2020-966-M-N: CIA Couper, CIB Harrison, CIC Craig, CID Penno, et al). AU$8,253,170

  • 2019 JDRF, T1DCRN and The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust Request for Application "ENDIA 2019" (CIA Couper, CIB Harrison, CIC Craig, CID Penno, et al). AU$4,064,074

 

Lecturer, Biology of Childhood Health Course: 2018, 2019, 2020

  • Mentoring
    Date Topic Location Name
    2015 - ongoing Specimen collection for pancreatic volume study Women's and Children's Hospital Priya Augustine
    2013 - ongoing Microbiome studies involving the TIGS cohort University of Adelaide Jessica Harbison

  • Committee Memberships
    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2021 - ongoing Member South Australian Biobanking Technical Reference Group The University of Adelaide Australia
    2019 - ongoing Member Research Freezer Management Policy Working Group The University of Adelaide Australia
    2016 - ongoing Member Health Consumer Engagement Executive Subcommittee University of Adelaide, Robinson Research Institute Australia
    2016 - 2016 Member RRI 2016 Symposium Organising Committee University of Adelaide, Robinson Research Institute Australia
    2016 - ongoing Founder RRI Early/Mid Career Researcher Committee University of Adelaide, Robinson Research Institute Australia
    2016 - ongoing Chair ENDIA Steering Committee ENDIA Study Group Australia
    2016 - ongoing Member ENDIA Steering Committee Executive The ENDIA Study Australia
    2015 - ongoing Member The High Performance Researcher Group ThinkWell Australia
    2014 - 2015 Member Adelaide Family Health Study Protocol Development Working Group The University of Adelaide, Robinson Research Institute Australia
    2014 - ongoing Founder Robinson Research Institute Study Coordinator Network Advisory Committee The University of Adelaide, Robinson Research Institute Australia
    2013 - ongoing Member Robinson Research Institute CIS Facility Steering Group University of Adelaide, Robinson Research Institute Australia
    2013 - ongoing Member JDRF International Microbiome Consortium JDRF International Australia
    2007 - 2009 Member Adelaide Protein Group Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Australia
  • Position: Grant-Funded Researcher (C)
  • Phone: 81618747
  • Email: megan.penno@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 81617031
  • Campus: Womens & Childrens Hospital
  • Building: WCH - Clarence Rieger Building, floor 2
  • Org Unit: Women's and Children's Health
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