Research Activities

Dr Laura Cook studies human immunology, focused on the role of CD4+ T cells, particularly regulatory T cells, in infectious and autoimmune diseases. Dr Cook completed her PhD with Prof Tony Kelleher at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales in 2014 where she developed an assay to isolate human antigen-specific CD39+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) and identified that, in coeliac disease patients, gluten-specific CD39+ Tregs have a functional defect that may contribute to disease. Dr Cook completed 6 years postdoctoral research at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada with Prof Megan Levings, a world-expert in human Tregs, and Prof Ted Steiner, an infectious diseases specialist. Dr Cook’s postdoctoral research focused on the therapeutic potential of ex vivo and induced human regulatory T cell subsets and characterising CD4+ T cell responses to bacterial flagellin (in inflammatory bowel disease), insulin antigens (in Type 1 diabetes) and C. difficile toxins (during infection) in cohort studies and clinical trials. Dr Cook commenced her current position at the Doherty Institute in Oct 2020 and is building a research group within Jose Villadangos' laboratory. She holds an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Investigator grant and is pursuing studies of immune paralysis in critical illness in collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Hospital ICU and functional studies of regulatory T cells in the development of immune memory. 

Research Keywords

Researching in the following areas: T cells, Cellular immunology, T cell memory, Infectious diseases, Immunosuppression