Associate Professor Quenten Schwarz is a developmental biologist heading the Neurovascular Research Laboratory at the Centre for Cancer Biology in Adelaide. Following a PhD in Human Genetics he moved to University College London to work with Christiana Ruhrberg where he investigated the molecular control of neuronal and vascular development. He returned to Australia to establish his own laboratory in 2010 and leads a team of 8 researchers investigating the complex cellular interactions governing craniofacial, cardiac and brain morphogenesis. His team are funded by grants through the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, Craniofacial Australia and National Heart Foundation.

Recent work from his laboratory in collaboration with groups throughout Europe and USA feature in highly regarded journals within the developmental biology field, including Science, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Molecular Psychiatry, Current Biology, Neuron and Development. He has recently been awarded the Bioinnovation SA Young achiever award in 2011, the AW Campbell award from the Australasian Neuroscience Society in 2014, and the Australian Society for Medical Research SA Leading Light award in 2015 for his breakthroughs in understanding the origins of congenital defects which his lab is pursuing in the hunt for novel preventions and less invasive therapies.

He will be presenting recent work on the roles of neural crest cells and endothelial cells as critical regulators of tissue morphogenesis.