Rate My Professor Laura Masters

Dr. Laura Masters serves as a Lecturer at Curtin University in the School of Biomedical Sciences within the Faculty of Health Sciences, and is listed among the staff of Curtin Medical School. She holds a BSc (Hons) and a PhD from the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Western Australia. Her PhD research examined genetic variability in the immunomodulatory genes expressed by murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) targeted to the host major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC class I) molecules. Prior to her appointment at Curtin University, Dr. Masters worked as a Research Assistant in the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Western Australia from November 2015 to January 2016.

As an early career researcher, Dr. Masters investigates viruses of pregnancy and early childhood, with specific interests in genetic variability between viral strains, immune evasion, and viral persistence. Her contributions to the field include several peer-reviewed publications. Key works are 'Specific IgA, But Not IgG, in Human Milk From COVID-19-infected Mothers Neutralizes SARS-CoV-2' (2024), 'The m15 Locus of Murine Cytomegalovirus Modulates Natural Killer Cell Responses to Promote Dissemination to the Salivary Glands and Viral Shedding' (2021), 'Repair of an Attenuated Low-Passage Murine Cytomegalovirus Bacterial Artificial Chromosome Identifies a Novel Spliced Gene Essential for Salivary Gland Tropism' (2020), 'Natural Killer Cell Dependent Within-Host Competition Arises during Multiple MCMV Infection: Consequences for Viral Transmission and Evolution' (2013), 'Laboratory Strains of Murine Cytomegalovirus Are Genetically Similar to but Phenotypically Distinct from Wild Strains of Virus' (2008), and 'Arbovirus and vector surveillance in Western Australia, 2004/05 to 2007/08' (2009). At Curtin University, she contributes to teaching in biomedical science courses, including Foundations of Biomedical Science (MEDI1000), focusing on microbiology and immunology.