Rate My Professor Jean Giacomotto

Dr. Jean Giacomotto is a Senior Lecturer and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at Griffith University, based in the School of Environment and Science within the Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics and Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery. He leads the Giacomotto Lab, utilizing zebrafish as a powerful vertebrate model organism to investigate the genetic and physiological mechanisms of human diseases, with a primary emphasis on neuromuscular disorders such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and Motor Neuron Disease (MND), as well as neurological conditions including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. Giacomotto completed his PhD at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 in conjunction with CNRS (UMR 5534) in 2010 and holds an engineering degree from the University of Science and Technology Lille obtained in 2002. His career trajectory began in the medical and pharmaceutical industries before he transitioned to academic research, including prior affiliations with the University of Queensland.

Giacomotto's research integrates phenotypic screening, chemical genetics, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, and transgenic technologies to model disease phenotypes and identify therapeutic compounds. Key impacts include zebrafish-based functional assays that have guided clinical decisions, such as avoiding multi-million-dollar SMA treatments for infants with benign gene variants, as demonstrated in world-first studies published in 2026. His investigations have contributed to bioactive molecules reaching the market, improving patient outcomes. Prominent publications include 'High-throughput screening and small animal models, where are we?' (2010), 'Neurexins in autism and schizophrenia—a review of patient mutations, mouse models and potential future directions' (2021), and 'Reduced C9orf72 function leads to defective synaptic vesicle release and neuromuscular dysfunction in zebrafish' (2021). He has received funding from the NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellowship, Metro South Health Research Grants, and the Australian Functional Genomics Network. Giacomotto also teaches courses like Science Capstone (3992NSC) and Advanced Studies Tasks (2601SCG, 2602SCG), supervises higher-degree research students, and advances translational biomedicine through innovative screening platforms.