Associate Professor
Laura Bray
Faculty of Engineering,
School of Mech., Medical & Process Engineering
Biography
Laura Bray is currently an Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow at QUT, and Deputy Director of the ARC Training Centre for Cell and Tissue Engineering Technologies. She received her PhD degree in tissue engineering at the Queensland Eye Institute and QUT in 2012. At the end of 2012, A/Prof Bray was awarded the inaugural Prime Minister’s Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Postdoctoral Award (awarded to only one woman in Australia), which she accepted and joined the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research in Dresden, Germany. After 3 years working in Dresden, A/Prof Bray received a National Breast Cancer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and moved her research to QUT in 2016. Through the use of state of the art matrix engineering techniques, her work has led to a number of significant advances in knowledge in the area of 3D tissue engineering and culture techniques. Her work has helped to clarify the potential role of the matrix environment in 3D cell cultivation and has provided new insights into mimicking the natural tissue environment in vitro. In 2021, A/Prof Bray was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship to improve our understanding of the biological mechanisms that drive blood vessel formation and function using bioengineered models.- - Development of 3D cancer models
- - Role of angiogenesis in tumour development
- - Cross-talk of cancer cells with their microenvironment
- - Role of the surrounding microenvironment in cancer progression and metastasis
- - Blood vessel formation and heterogeneity
Personal details
Positions
- Principal Research Fellow
Faculty of Engineering,
School of Mech., Medical & Process Engineering
Research field
Biomedical engineering, Other physical sciences
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
- Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) (Queensland University of Technology)
- Bachelor of Science (University of Sunshine Coast)
Professional memberships and associations
- Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS)
- Australian Vascular Biology Society (AVBS)
- Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand (MBSANZ)
- Australian and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (ANZSCDB)
Teaching
- PCN218 Research Methodology and Professional Studies
- EGH400-1/EGH400-2/EGH408 Research Project
Publications
- Haupt, L., Bray, L., Koch, M., Ravichandran, A., Murekatete, B., Clegg, J., Joseph, M., Hampson, M., Jenkinson, M., Bauer, H., Snell, C., Liu, C., Gough, M., Thompson, E., Werner, C. & Hutmacher, D. (2023). Exploring the Potential of PEG-Heparin Hydrogels to Support Long-Term Ex Vivo Culture of Patient-Derived Breast Explant Tissues. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 12(14). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/237289
- Jaeschke, A., Eckert, H. & Bray, L. (2022). Qiber3D-an open-source software package for the quantitative analysis of networks from 3D image stacks. GigaScience, 11. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/230389
- Ravichandran, A., Clegg, J., Adams, M., Hampson, M., Fielding, A. & Bray, L. (2021). 3D breast tumor models for radiobiology applications. Cancers, 13(22). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/227508
- Bonda, U., Jaeschke, A., Lighterness, A., Baldwin, J., Werner, C., De-Juan-Pardo, E. & Bray, L. (2020). 3D Quantification of Vascular-Like Structures in z Stack Confocal Images. STAR Protocols, 1(3). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/209157
- Jaeschke, A., Jacobi, A., Lawrence, M., Risbridger, G., Frydenberg, M., Williams, E., Vela, I., Hutmacher, D., Bray, L. & Taubenberger, A. (2020). Cancer-associated fibroblasts of the prostate promote a compliant and more invasive phenotype in benign prostate epithelial cells. Materials Today Bio, 8. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/204924
- Koch, M., Jaeschke, A., Murekatete, B., Ravichandran, A., Tsurkan, M., Werner, C., Soon, P., Hutmacher, D., Haupt, L. & Bray, L. (2020). Stromal fibroblasts regulate microvascular-like network architecture in a bioengineered breast tumour angiogenesis model. Acta Biomaterialia, 114, 256–269. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/203136
- Bray, L., Secker, C., Murekatete, B., Sievers, J., Binner, M., Welzel, P. & Werner, C. (2018). Three-Dimensional In Vitro Hydro- and Cryogel-Based Cell-Culture Models for the Study of Breast-Cancer Metastasis to Bone. Cancers, 10(9), 1–25. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/121032
- Taubenberger, A., Bray, L., Haller, B., Shaposhnykov, A., Binner, M., Freudenberg, U., Guck, J. & Werner, C. (2016). 3D extracellular matrix interactions modulate tumour cell growth, invasion and angiogenesis in engineered tumour microenvironments. Acta Biomaterialia, 36, 73–85. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/95173
- Bray, L., Binner, M., Holzheu, A., Friedrichs, J., Freudenberg, U., Hutmacher, D. & Werner, C. (2015). Multi-parametric hydrogels support 3D in vitro bioengineered microenvironment models of tumour angiogenesis. Biomaterials, 53, 609–620. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/82946
- Chwalek, K., Bray, L. & Werner, C. (2014). Tissue-engineered 3D tumor angiogenesis models: Potential technologies for anti-cancer drug discovery. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 79 - 80, 30–39. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/79200
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Laura, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Recipient of a Nationally Competitive Research Fellowship
- Reference year
- 2022
- Details
- ARC Discovery - Future Fellowship
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- AVBS Achievement and Career Development Award
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- QLD Young Tall Poppy Award