Prof. Stephanie Gras La Trobe University, Australia

Prof. Gras is an internationally recognised leader in the field of T cell Immunology and Structural Biology with a sustained record of high-quality publications in peer reviewed journals (> 130 publications in Nature, Science, Immunity, Nature Immunology, Science Immunology, Nature Communications, PNAS ...), a successful record of research funding (>... read more$11M), a strong commitment to training high quality research students and early career researchers. Furthermore, she has demonstrated excellence in engaging with the media to disseminate her work to the wider community.

Prof. Gras was awarded highly competitive ARC Future Fellowship (2012-2016), CDF2 NHMRC fellowship, and an SRFA NHMRC fellowship (2019-23), the Georgina Sweet Award for Women in Biomedical Science (2017), SCANZ Sandy Mathieson Medal (2022), ASBMB Shimadzu Medal (2023), and invitations to present at national and international institutions and conferences.

In 2021, Stephanie was promoted to Professor (adjunct) at Monash University and moved to La Trobe University to take a Professorial position. In 2022, she was appointed Deputy Director of the La Trobe University Institute for Molecular Science to help transition the institute toward new challenges.
Prof. Gras’ research is instrumental on providing a better understanding of the first key event in T cell-mediated immunity towards pathogens: the antigen recognition mechanism. Understanding antigen recognition using structural biology offers tremendous opportunities to design new therapies that mobilise, reprogram, or boost the immune system.