Sonja Frolich

Microsopist & Bioimage Analyst, The University of Adelaide

I am an expert in applying advanced imaging and data analysis techniques to extract insights from complex microscopy datasets. My passion for bridging image informatics with biology has shaped my career as a microscopist and bioimage analyst. With an interdisciplinary background spanning veterinary science, cancer research, reproductive medicine, and infectious disease, I address complex biological problems by developing innovative, data-driven solutions. Since 2014, I have led the development of automated and semi-automated image analysis workflows, including:

*Telomere structure analysis: workflows for quantifying changes in telomere loop structure using STORM, STED and 3D SIM data.

* Cell cycle dynamics and genomic damage/repair response: High-content imaging pipelines for characterising cell cycle kinetics and DNA damage/repair mechanisms.

* Malaria parasite red blood cell invasion: 3D super-resolution (Airyscan) workflows for quantifying invasion organelles in Plasmodium parasites.

*Viral replication (Zika and Dengue): automated workflows to assess viral replication complex formation in 3D super-resolved micrographs.

*Host-pathogen interactions: semi-automated workflows for quantifying host cell lipid dynamics during bacterial and protozoan infections.

Since joining the Research Centre for Infectious Diseases (RCID) in 2018, I have been part of the Malaria and Toxoplasma Research Laboratory, where I focus on developing scalable, AI-guided image analysis solutions to process volumetric datasets across multiple disease models, including malaria, toxoplasma, bacterial and viral pathogens.