Elena J. Tucker
Elena Jane Tucker is an Australian geneticist who studies medical genomics. She focuses on mitochondrial disease and the genetics behind disorders of sex development and ovarian problems.
In 2016 she was recognized as a Rising Talent by the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards.
She earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne in 2006 and a Ph.D. in medical genomics from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute at the University of Melbourne in 2011. Her Ph.D. work looked at using new genomic methods to improve diagnosis and care for people with mitochondrial disease.
She continues to work at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute as a research fellow and is an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. There she is part of the Reproductive Development group, studying the genetics of ovarian dysfunction, especially premature ovarian insufficiency.
Her research shows that mitochondrial disease can be caused by mutations in many different genes—more than 100. She helped develop technology that can analyze hundreds or thousands of genes at once, speeding up diagnosis. She believes these techniques could also help diagnose other genetic conditions, such as epilepsy and heart disease.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:42 (CET).