Rate My Professor Bente Talseth-Palmer

Dr. Bente Talseth-Palmer serves as Honorary Senior Lecturer in Medical Genetics in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy within the University of Newcastle's College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing. She completed a Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Technology in Norway in 1999, followed by a Master of Genetic Counselling at the University of Newcastle in 2004. In January 2008, she was awarded a PhD in Medical Genetics from the University of Newcastle, conducted in the Hunter Medical Research Institute's NBN Telethon Childhood Cancer research laboratory, earning the Faculty of Health's research higher degree award for excellence. From 1999 to 2003, she worked as a research assistant in genetic research in Iceland and Norway. After her PhD, she held the Gladys M. Brawn Memorial Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2008-2010) and an NHMRC Training Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2011-2014), followed by a Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Research Fellowship from 2014. She is currently Research Operations Manager at NSW Health Pathology, leading research services delivery, and maintains affiliations with the Hunter Medical Research Institute's Information-Based Medicine program. Dr. Talseth-Palmer is fluent in English and Norwegian and holds memberships in the Human Genetics Society of Australasia and Australasian Microarray & Associated Technologies Association.

Her research focuses on medical genetics, specializing in genetic modifiers of disease risk in Lynch syndrome (hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer), inherited colorectal cancer genomics, single nucleotide polymorphisms, genome-wide SNP array technology, and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. She has secured over $2.2 million in grant funding as lead investigator, including projects on genetic factors in inherited colon cancer ($454,798, 2013) and Lynch syndrome modifiers ($500,000, 2017). Notable publications include 'Detection of germline variants with pathogenic potential in 48 patients with familial colorectal cancer by using whole exome sequencing' (BMC Medical Genomics, 2023), 'MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphism’s effect on risk of colorectal cancer in Lynch syndrome' (Scientific Reports, 2023), 'Exome sequencing of familial adenomatous polyposis-like individuals identifies both known and novel causative genes' (Clinical Genetics, 2021), 'The genetic basis of colonic adenomatous polyposis syndromes' (Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice, 2017), and 'MSH6 and PMS2 mutation positive Australian Lynch syndrome families' (Clinical Genetics, 2010). With approximately 1,400 citations, her contributions extend to international collaborations, such as HNPCC studies with Leiden University Medical Center (Netherlands), MOMA with MRC (UK), and modifier genes research with Karolinska Institute (Sweden) and Poland's International Hereditary Cancer Center. Awards include the Hunter Medical Research Institute Pulse Education Prize (2009), Cancer Institute NSW Research Scholar Award (2005), and multiple travel grants. She supervises honours and PhD students, reviews for Cancer Causes & Control, and has contributed chapters like 'The Role of Modifier Genes in Lynch Syndrome' (2012).