Cancer immunology research
Laura completed her PhD at The University of Melbourne with Professor Andrew Hill. Her work led to the establishment of an on-going research program on the role of extracellular vesicles in neurodegeneration. Her discoveries include the identification of EVs in cerebrospinal fluid and the finding that misfolded proteins can spread between cell types via EVs. She has demonstrated the role of EVs in the transfer of drug resistance and recently developed methods to isolate EVs from solid tissue.
She has held Post-Doctoral positions in The Department of Pathology at The University of Melbourne as a Viertel Foundation Research Fellow and The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at The Austin Hospital. She is currently the Head of the Extracellular Vesicles Laboratory at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health where she holds an Alzheimer’s Association Fellowship (U.S.A).
Current Positions:
- Laboratory Head, The Extracellular Vesicle Laboratory, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
- Research Integrity Advisor for The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences, Office for Research Ethics and Integrity, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Honorary Fellow, The Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Awards and achievements
- Alzheimer’s Association Fellowship (U.S.A)
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience Travel Award
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Ian Potter Foundation Travel Award
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The Merck-Millipore Postdoctoral Travel Award
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Biomedical Research Victoria, Media Training Scholarship
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International Society for Neurochemistry Travel Award
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CASS Foundation Travel Grant
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Harold Mitchell Travel Fellowship
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Viertel Foundation, Alzheimer’s Australia Research Fellowship
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Australian Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Fellowship
Dr Vella has published 35 manuscripts, including 17 as first author, 7 as corresponding and 3 senior author papers. Her increasing international recognition is highlighted by >2300 career citations, half of which are from the last 3 yrs. She has a h-index of 19.
Qualifications
PhD (Dean’s Award for Excellence in a PhD). The University of Melbourne.
BSc (HONS) - 1st class honours, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia
Research Papers
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MEK inhibition, alone or in combination with BRAF inhibition, affects multiple functions of isolated normal human lymphocytes and dendritic cells
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The emerging role of exosomes in epithelial-mesenchymal-transition in cancerFrontiers in Oncology
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Phosphoproteomic analysis of cell-based resistance to BRAF inhibitor therapy in melanomaFrontiers in Oncology
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The contribution of tumour-derived exosomes to the hallmarks of cancerCritical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences
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EVpedia: A community web portal for extracellular vesicles researchBioinformatics
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Immune consequences of kinase inhibitors in development, undergoing clinical trials and in current use in melanoma treatmentExpert Review of Clinical Immunology
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Focus on extracellular vesicles: Exosomes and their role in protein trafficking and biomarker potential in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseaseInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
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Oral swirl samples - a robust source of microRNA protected by extracellular vesicles.
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A rigorous method to enrich for exosomes from brain tissueJournal of Extracellular Vesicles
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Revealing the Proteome of Motor Cortex Derived Extracellular Vesicles Isolated from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Human Postmortem TissuesCells
Showing 10 of 29. VIEW ALL
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