Jocelyn Widagdo, Ph.D.

Education
Bachelor of Science (Hons I) in Bioinformatics
University of Sydney, Australia (2007)

Doctor of Philosophy 
University of New South Wales, Australia (2011)

Positions
Postdoctoral Fellow (2011 - 2012)
​Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA

Postdoctoral Fellow (2012 - 2016)
Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Research Fellow (2017 - 2024)
Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Senior Research Fellow (2025 - present)
Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Awards
2007 - University of Sydney Postgraduate Award

2010 - OzBio Student Bursary Award, Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)

2012 - Paper of the Month Award (Widagdo et al., PLoS One, 2012), School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales

2013 - The Ian Potter Foundation Travel Award

2013 - The Lorne Genome Travel Grant

2017 - Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award

2017 - Young Investigator Travel Award, International Society for Neurochemistry
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2018 - Young Investigator Travel Award, Asian-Pacific Society for Neurochemistry

2018 - Queensland Protein Group (QPG)-sponsored ComBio Travel Prize

​2018 - CASS Foundation Travel Award

2020 - University of Queensland Amplify Fellowship

Research Support
  • ARC DECRA Fellowship (DE170100112) “Epitranscriptomic regulation of learning and memory”. CIA, 2017 - 2019
  • UQ Early Career Researcher Grant "The epitranscriptomic landscape of ageing and dementia". CIA. 2018
  • Advance Queensland Women's Research Assistance Program (WRAP). CIA, 2019 - 2021
  • UQ Amplify Women's Academic Research Equity (AWARE) Program. CIA, 2019 - 2020
  • UQ Amplify Fellowship. CIA, 2020 - 2022
  • Judy Mitchell Motor Neurone Disease Research Australia Innovator Grant “Molecular mechanisms underlying the cytoplasmic aggregation of the RNA binding protein, SFPQ, in ALS”. CIC, 2021 - 2022
  • ARC Project Grant (DP230102041) “Novel role of RNA methylation in neuronal homeostasis”. CIA, 2023 - 2026
  • Australian Functional Genomic Network Catalyst Grant “Characterisation of a de novo WDR26 rare genetic variant associated with neurodevelopmental disorders”. CIB, 2024 - 2025
  • Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research Flagship Project Grant “Epigenetic regulation of learning and memory”. CIF, 2025 - 2027
  • Research Gift, The Donald & Joan Wilson Foundation Ltd. CIA, 2025 - 2026.
  • ARC Project Grant (DP260104911) “Long-range calcium-dependent neuronal signalling in learning and memory”. CIB, 2026 - 2029

Selected Publications
  1. Widagdo J, Chai YJ, Ridder MC, Chau YQ, Johnson RC, Sah P, Huganir RL, Anggono V (2015) Activity-dependent ubiquitination of GluA1 and GluA2 regulates AMPA receptor intracellular trafficking and degradation. Cell Reports 10, 783-795. Recommended by the Faculty of 1000.
  2. Widagdo J*#, Zhao Q*, Kempen MJ, Tan MC, Ratnu VS, Wei W, Leighton L, Spadaro PA, Edson J, Anggono V, Bredy TW# (2016) Experience-dependent accumulation of N6-methyladenosine in the prefrontal cortex is associated with memory processes in mice. Journal of Neuroscience 36, 6771-6777. *co-first author, #co-corresponding author.
  3. Zhu T, Yong XLH, Xia D, Widagdo J*, Anggono V* (2018) Ubiquitination mediates proteasomal degradation and nuclear translocation of the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) protein. Journal of Molecular Biology 430, 363-371. *co-senior author.
  4. Widagdo J*, Anggono V (2018) The m6A-epitranscriptomic signature in neurobiology: from neurodevelopment to brain plasticity. Journal of Neurochemistry 147, 137-152. *corresponding author.
  5. Huang H, Camats-Perna J, Medeiros R, Anggono V, Widagdo J (2020) Altered expression of the m6A methyltransferase METTL3 in Alzheimer’s disease. eNeuro 7, ENEURO.0125-20.2020.
  6. ​Widagdo J, Wong JJL, Anggono V (2021) The m6A-epitranscriptome in brain plasticity, learning and memory. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology 125, 110-121.
  7. Widagdo J*, Anggono V, Wong JJ* (2022) The multifaceted effects of YTHDC1-mediated nuclear m6A recognition. Trends in Genetics 38, 325-332. *co-corresponding author.
  8. Huang H, Song R, Wong JJL, Anggono V, Widagdo J (2023) The N6-methyladenosine RNA landscape in aged mouse hippocampus. Aging Cell 22, e13755.
  9. Zhu T, Tan JZA, Zhang L, Huang H, Das SS, Cheng F, Padmanabhan P, Jones MJK, Lee M, Lee A, Widagdo J*, Anggono V* (2025) FTO suppresses DNA repair by inhibiting PARP1. Nature Communications 16, 2925. *co-corresponding author.

Full publication list: Google Scholar

Student Supervision
Current
  • Christiana Lowis (PhD student, 2025 - present)
  • Yajing Lin (PhD student, 2025 - present)
  • Rong Tang (Honours student, 2026 - present)
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Completed
  • Marie-Jeanne Kempen (Masters student, 2014)
  • Laura Leighton (Honours student, Class I, 2014)
  • Paola Spadaro (PhD student, 2015)
  • Tianyi Zhu (MSc student, 2017)
  • Phaedra K. Stevens (Honours student, Class I, 2017)
  • Yung Ching Kao (Honours Student, Class I, 2019)
  • Sumasri Guntupalli (PhD student, 2020) - Analyst, BHP Australia
  • He Huang (PhD student, 2022) - Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, USA
  • Tianyi Zhu (PhD student, 2023) - Research Associate at China Pharmaceutical University, China
  • Md. Rezanur Rahman (PhD student, 2025) - Postdoctoral Fellow at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Australia
  • Yajing Lin (MSc student, 2025)