Our People

Emma Davison

Emma obtained her Bachelor of Science in Medicinal Chemistry, and a BSc(Hons) with First Class Honours, and her PhD from the University of Auckland. She received a trifecta of awards for her PhD thesis titled "Total Syntheses of 1,2,4-Thiadiazoles", including the Vice Chancellors Award for Best Doctoral Thesis in 2018.

Her two post-doctoral research fellow positions at the University of Auckland (supervised by D. Prof. Dame Margaret Brimble, 2018-2021) and at Simon Fraser University (supervised by Prof. Rob Britton, 2021-2022) were funded by a Rutherford Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and a Michael Smith Health Research British Columbia Trainee Award, respectively.

In 2023, Emma co-founded Cloudburst Biotech, a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company using innovative chemistry to generate a new era in RNA-therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Emma joined AUT's School of Science in 2024 on a permanent basis. At AUT Emma is building her independent research programme which sits at the interface of Chemistry and Biology; exploring new chemical modification strategies to enhance the effectiveness of oligonucleotide (RNA/DNA) therapies for the treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases. Emma received a Health Research Council (HRC) Emerging Researcher First Grant in 2025 to establish this research platform. She also has an ongoing interest in organic synthesis and natural product research. Her research was recognised through a Thieme Chemistry Journals Award (2025).