Graduate Research Degree Awarded - Oniko Liani

Congratulations to Oniko Liani - Doctor of Philosophy Awarded 24 September 2026

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Supervisors: Andrew Elefanty and Ed Stanley

Advisory Committee: Ann Frazier and Dan Pellicci

Thesis Title: Modelling B cell development using human induced pluripotent stem cells

Thesis Summary:

B cells are the immune cells that make antibodies and most childhood leukemias begin in their early precursors. However, these precursors are difficult to obtain and therefore limits research into how B cells develop and what goes wrong in disease. To address this challenge, Oniko built on her lab’s established method to produce blood stem cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and developed a protocol to turn them into B cells in the laboratory. She discovered that the maturity of the starting blood stem cells affects B cell generation and that modulating a key signalling pathway allows for faithful recapitulation of early B cell development, which has not been shown before. This system offers a new way to study human B cell development and test drugs and could one day help generate antibody-producing cells for advanced therapies.

Date awarded: 24 September 2026