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Prior to her academic career, Manuela completed an apprenticeship as a chemical lab technician and worked in industry in Switzerland and the United States. She then obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in chemistry from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland and the University of Basel, respectively. In 2014, she obtained a PhD in medicinal chemistry from Monash University, developing dual-acting ligands targeting the dopamine D2 and adenosine A2AR receptor for the potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease. During her career, she has worked in the research areas of organic and medicinal chemistry. This includes a 1-year traineeship position at CSIRO as well as postdoctoral employment at Monash University. Most recently, she was appointed as a Monash University and Newcastle University (UK) Fellow. This is providing her with an exciting opportunity to start her independent research program and group, while facilitating interdisciplinary research projects across the two Universities. A reflection of her emerging international reputation in the fields of medicinal chemistry and GPCR research is the numerous prestigious programs she has been selected for during her career in industry and academia, including the VESKI Inspiring Women sidebyside Program in 2020, Mentoring and Guidance in Careers (MAGIC) Workshop in 2019, Merck Innovation Cup Participation in 2016 and the SciFinder Future Leader Award in 2015. Her dedication is further demonstrated by numerous roles in professional societies and committees and is driven by her passion to promote science to the general public and increase the visibility of minorities in STEM, as well as providing opportunities to early- and mid-career researchers.

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