Dr Lisette Pregelj is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences within the Faculty of Science at the University of Queensland, where she serves as Deputy Director of the Biotechnology Program. She is also affiliated with the Australian Institute for Business and Economics. A University of Queensland alumna, Pregelj completed her Bachelor of Biotechnology (Honours), majoring in microbial biotechnology with an honours project in plant biotechnology. She then pursued a Master of Technology and Innovation Management and a Doctor of Philosophy in 2013 from the UQ Business School, with her thesis titled 'Capability development along the capability lifecycle: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry'. Following her PhD, she held a UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from 2015 to 2018, focusing on improving innovation and competitive advantage through capability development in a longitudinal, cross-sectoral, and international comparison. Earlier, after her undergraduate studies, she served as Education and Outreach Manager at UQ's Centre for Integrative Legume Research. Pregelj is a member of AusBiotech and contributes to the leadership of the Knowledge and Innovation interest group for the Strategic Management Society. She regularly mentors current and future biotechnology students and shares her interdisciplinary experience.

Pregelj's research investigates the impact of new technologies, innovations, and regulations on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, emphasizing precision medicines, biosimilars, nanomedicines, bioeconomy, innovation speed, alliances, organizational capabilities, regulatory bottlenecks in drug development, and digital health regulation. Her work, cited over 660 times, appears in leading journals such as Health Affairs, Trends in Biotechnology, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, and Microbiology Australia. Key publications include 'Precision medicines have faster approvals based on fewer and smaller trials than other medicines' (Health Affairs, 2018), 'Anticipatory regulation for pandemic responses: are we there yet?' (Trends in Biotechnology, 2024), 'Restoring Australia’s long-term innovation requires investment in basic research' (Microbiology Australia, 2023, co-led), 'Are manufacturing patents to blame for biosimilar market launch delays?' (Value in Health, 2024), 'Material trends and clinical costings in systematically identified CDER-approved nanomedicines' (Advanced Therapeutics, 2024), and 'Changes in clinical trial length' (Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 2015). She has contributed book chapters like 'Commercializing university research to mitigate simultaneous change stimuli' (2018) and early articles on plant biotechnology such as 'Pongamia pinnata: An Untapped Resource for the Biofuels Industry of the Future' (Bioenergy Research, 2008). Pregelj has secured grants including the MTPConnect-funded 'Adaptive Coordination in the Digital Health Industry: Maintaining Australia's Global Competitiveness' (2018-2020). She delivers public lectures, such as 'The progress of precision medicines' for UQ BrisScience, influencing academic and policy discussions on biotechnology advancement.

Professional Email: lisette.pregelj@uq.edu.au