Laura Cook

Dr Laura Cook is a human immunologist, whose research focuses on the role of CD4+ T cells, particularly regulatory T cells, in infectious and autoimmune diseases. Dr Cook completed her PhD at the Kirby Institute, UNSW 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 Dr Megan Levings, a world-expert in human Tregs, and Dr Ted Steiner, an infectious diseases specialist. Dr Cook’s postdoctoral research focused on the therapeutic potential of 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). Dr Cook is interested in pursuing functional studies of antigen-specific T cells in infectious disease, in particular identifying the role of regulatory T cells in the development of immune memory.