Marie Bernkopf

Marie (b.1986) initially worked as Biomedical Analyst in a diagnostic lab for cancer und human genetics in Linz, Austria but soon decided to study further in the field of Molecular Biology and Molecular Biomedicine in Graz, Austria. She obtained her PhD in 2015 studying a newly described genetic cause for intellectual disability. After a 2.5 years post-doctoral training at University of Oxford, UK, where she worked in the Clinical Genetics group at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine on genetic mosaicism, selfish spermatogonial selection and Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing, she wanted to apply her gained expertise in cell-free DNA analysis and work again in the cancer research field. Therefore she joined the Taschner-Mandl group at St.Anna CCRI, Vienna, Austria. Here she works as a Staff Scientist on translational research projects to bring new techniques and approaches (e.g. liquid biopsies) into clinical practice in order to improve risk stratification and survival of little cancer patients. As head of the laboratory for Tumorbiology at Labdia laboratory diagnostics, a subsidiary of the St.Anna CCRI, is she responsible for the genetic diagnostics of all solid extra-cranial cancers in children and adolescents in Austria. One of her main objectives is to translate research findings and novel technologies into validated assays and workflows and with that make precision medicine approaches accessible to all patients in a quality-controlled and accredited routine diagnostic setting.

Her lab is listed as reference lab in several international clinical trials and she is member of SIOPEN (Neuroblastoma Research Network) and Human Genetics Societies (European, Austrian).