Dr Laura Bray

Faculty of Engineering,
School of Mech., Medical & Process Engineering
Biography
Dr Laura Bray is currently a Senior Lecturer 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, Dr 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, from 2013-2016, Dr Bray received a National Breast Cancer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and moved her research to QUT in March 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, Dr 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.Main areas of research: - 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
- Senior Research Fellow
Faculty of Engineering,
School of Mech., Medical & Process Engineering- Kelvin Grove Q Block Membership
Institute of Health Biomedical Innovation (IHBI),
IHBI Science and Engineering Projects - Kelvin Grove Q Block Membership
Discipline
Biomedical Engineering, Other Physical Sciences
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Evaluation of Fibroin based Scaffolds for Ocular Tissue Reco (Queensland University of Technology)
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)
- Women in Technology (WIT)
Teaching
- PCN218 Research Methodology and Professional Studies
- EGH400-1/EGH400-2 Research Project 1/2
Selected publications
- 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.
- 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, pp. 256-269.
- Bray L, Binner M, Korner Y, von Bonin M, Bornhauser M, Werner C, (2017) A three-dimensional ex vivo tri-culture model mimics cell-cell interactions between acute myeloid leukemia and the vascular niche, Haematologica, 102 (7), pp. 1215-1226.
- Bray L, Friedrichs J, Freudenberg U, Tsurkan M, Werner C, Binner M, (2017) Cell-instructive starPEG-heparin-collagen composite matrices, Acta Biomaterialia, 53, pp. 70-80.
- Bray L, Binner M, Freudenberg U, Werner C, (2017) Hydrogel-based in vitro models of tumor angiogenesis, Methods in Molecular Biology, 1612, pp. 39-63.
- 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, pp. 73-85.
- Dhawan A, von Bonin M, Bray L, Freudenberg U, Bejestani E, Werner C, Hofbauer L, Wobus M, Bornhauser M, (2016) Functional interference in the bone marrow microenvironment by disseminated breast cancer cells, Stem Cells, 34 (8), pp. 2224-2235.
- Gillies P, Bray L, Richardson N, Chirila T, Harkin D, (2015) Isolation of microvascular endothelial cells from cadaveric corneal limbus, Experimental Eye Research, 131, pp. 20-28.
- 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, pp. 609-620.
- 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, pp. 30-39.
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Laura, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).