Dr. McKean is a postdoctoral scientist working at the University of Auckland. Her Ph.D. project was to create a CRISPR-Cas9 gene-edited sheep model of Alzheimer’s disease, with the hope that this model could be used to elucidate the mechanisms of AD and be of value to pharmaceutical companies looking to test potential therapies. This work was funded by the Freemason’s of New Zealand, the University of Auckland and Brain Research New Zealand. Her job as a postdoctoral scientist is to validate the model, along with a second sheep model of AD created soon after. Before this, she completed a Bachelor of science at Massey University, majoring in Genetics and Zoology, and then completed a Master’s Degree in Evolutionary Biology with First Class Honours.