Elizabeth Knight

A picture of Elizabeth Knight

Elizabeth Knight

National Research Lead- Population Health, Donor Research and Cellular Therapies
Donor Research 
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Liz Knight is the National Research Lead for Population Health, Donor Research and Cellular Therapies at Lifeblood. She has over 15 years of clinical research experience across Australia and Canada—and nearly a decade within Lifeblood’s R&D team—with expertise in donor health and applied public health. Liz holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Wollongong and is driven by a commitment to translating research into meaningful outcomes for donors and patients. She leads an internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary team focused on sustaining Australia’s donor panel, enhancing public health initiatives, and advancing cellular therapies.

Member
  • Association of Regulatory and Clinical Scientists (ARCS) Professional Development In Therapeutics

Key Publications

Exploring the experiences of hemochromatosis (HHC) patients who undergo therapeutic venesection at a blood collection agency
rpe R, Masser B, Gemelli CN, Knight E, Jos C, Bentley PJ, Maddern J, O'Donovan J, Kakkos A, Welvaert M
2025
Transfusion
65(3): 531-538
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Cross-sectional and longitudinal genotype to phenotype surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants over the first four years of the COVID-19 pandemic
Akerman A, Fichter C, Milogiannakis V, Esneau C, Silva MR, Ison T, Lopez JA, Naing Z, Caguicla J, Amatayakul-Chantler S, Roth N, Manni S, Hauser T, Barnes T, Boss T, Condylios A, Yeang M, Sato K, Bartlett NN, Darley D, Matthews G, Stark DJ, Promsri S, Raw
2024
eBioMedicine
110: 105415
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Patient-reported outcomes of serum eye drops manufactured from Australian blood donations and packaged using Meise vials
Gemelli CN, Mondy P, Kakkos A, O'Donovan J, Diaz P, Knight E, Hirani R
2023
Frontiers in Medicine
10: 1252688
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Evaluation of a sterile surgical skin marker to indicate the optimal vein for venepuncture in the blood donation setting.
Bell B, O'Donovan J, Wright ST, Gemelli CN, Knight E, Hirani R.
2020
Vox Sanguinis
115:377-387
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Evaluation of a tool to score donor vein suitability for blood donation.
Hirani R, O'Donovan J, Knight E, Bell B, Mondy P.
2019
Vox Sanguinis
114(6):588-594
View publication

Elizabeth Knight articles

illustration of four people in white lab coats
Research study update: Beyond the iron gate

People with Hereditary haemochromatosis (HHC) who donate at Lifeblood reported that they feel more like donors than patients. This suggests that Lifeblood could change the way we communicate with them, as we currently communicate with them as “patients”. They did not know much about plasma and had mixed views on being able to donate plasma.

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illustration of a donor holding a red blood droplet, standing next to them is a scientist in a white lab coat, in the background is a microscope
Research study update: ASPECT study | Antigen specific T cells for COVID-19 Therapy and the Therapeutic cell bank

Lifeblood researchers, with the help of a small number of very dedicated donors, were able to contribute to some amazing work on novel COVID-19 therapies being conducted by Associate Professor Emily Blyth and her team in the Westmead T-Cell Therapies Group (WTCG) at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research.

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