Professor Lyn Griffiths is Executive Director of the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), QUT’s health and medical research institute.
An active and respected molecular geneticist with more than 28 years’ experience, Prof Griffiths has brought business acumen to medical research to increase IHBI’s influence and its impact on human health. She is a passionate advocate for translational research and believes it’s time for Australia to capitalise on its reputation for world-class biomedical research by unlocking its enormous commercial potential. In relation to this, she currently is Director of the nationwide and industry supported Bridge and BridgeTech programs, which provide commercialisation training for the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries, respectively.
Prof Griffiths’ own genetics research has led to diagnostic breakthroughs for several neurogenetic disorders, including familial migraine, ataxia, epilepsy and hereditary stroke. Her research has appeared in more than 350 peer-reviewed international journals, including Nature, the American Journal of Human Genetics, and Nature Neurology.
As the head of IHBI, Prof. Griffiths leads a 1,000-strong research team and sees it as her mission to inspire the next generation of Australian researchers to make the most of funding opportunities to improve human health. She has supervised 54 PhD students and 45 honours students to completion and has led by example when it comes to funding, attracting more than $39 million through national and international grants, industry collaborations, and philanthropy.
A fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Science, Prof. Griffiths has also established several significant international collaborations the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Oxford University, University of Vienna, the Italian National Research Council, the MS ANZ Gene consortium and the International Migraine Genetics Consortium.

Honours, Awards and prizes:
2017    HGSA, Sutherland Orator
2015    Fellow, Queensland Academy of Arts and Science
2015    Finalist, Life Sciences, Outstanding Achievement, Women in Technology
2014    Greppi Award, for the best international migraine paper Migraine Trust International Congress
2013    Gold Coast Overall Leadership Award International Women’s Day Festival 2013
2010    F1000 article factor 9 (8-9 Must read) for Nature Medicine 16(10):1157-60
2010    F1000 article factor 6 (6-7 Recommended) for Cephalalgia 31(3):264-270
2010    Research Excellence Award for Senior Researcher, Griffith University
2006    Smart State – Smart Women Finalist  (Research Scientist Category);
2006    Finalist Queenslander of the Year
2005    Australian of the Year Finalist
2004    Australian Centenary Medal for Distinguished Service to Education & Medical Research

Research area: Professor Griffiths leads the Genomics Research Centre(GRC). Established in 1997, the GRC is a well equipped research centre including principal researchers, postdoctoral scientists, research assistants, postgraduate and honours students, and is funded by national competitive grants and industry collaboration and contracts. The main focus of research in the GRC is the identification of genes involved in common human disorders and the translation of this research into new diagnostics and therapeutics. Prof Griffiths has established significant genomic population resources for her research, including a unique case-controlled, multigenerational pedigree and genetic isolate from Norfolk Island. Recent studies at the GRC have mapped several migraine, CVD, MS and cancer gene loci and have implicated a number of candidate genes in disease susceptibility. The GRC  undertakes regular NATA and HGSA accredited diagnostic testing for six human genetic disorders for Australasia and  research to date has resulted in three fully granted and five provisional patent applications.

Research support and funding:  Prof Griffiths research has been supported by more than $39M in research funding through national competitive grants, industry collaborations and contracts, and philanthropic sources including NHMRC project grants, ARC Discovery and Linkage grants, ARC EIF and NCRIS grants, Qld Smart State grants as well as international funding from the US Migraine Research Foundation.

Research interests:

• Molecular genetics
• Genetic analysis
• Chronic disease
• Clinical Trials