Erinna Lee

Erinna Lee is a Singaporean molecular biologist specializing in apoptosis and autophagy.

Early life and education Erinna Lee was born in Singapore and moved to Australia after high school. She was educated at University of Melbourne, studying a BSc(hons) in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 2000-2004. She studied her PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, It was during this PhD where she began research on programmed cell death, which would form a large part of her subsequent research career.

Research Lee's research focuses on cell death and survival, and in particular the role of the BCL-2 protein and its associated homolog family. This is typically via characterising protein-protein interactions in the BCL-2 signalling pathway via structural characterisation of the constituent proteins (both X-ray and NMR methods) as well as biochemical and biophysical characterisation of their interactions. She then applies this information to animal models to understand the contributions of these proteins to normal physiology and disease. and the 2021 Shimadzu Research Medal by the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.