Associate Professor Julian Heng attained his Bachelor’s degree with First Class Honours at the University of Western Australia, and then earned his Doctorate from the University of Melbourne while working within the Howard Florey Institute (now the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health). In 2004, he undertook postdoctoral training at the National Institute for Medical Research (Mill Hill, UK), holding a CJ Martin Fellowship as well as an MRC Career Development Fellowship to extend his period of training. In 2010, he established his independent research programme at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) and was awarded a Career Development Fellowship (2011-2014, NH&MRC, Australia) to foster his research programme. In 2014, he relocated his research to the University of Western Australia, and to join the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in the pursuit of health translational outcomes directly applicable to his gene discovery work.