Rate My Professor Stephanie Gras

Professor Stephanie Gras is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry within La Trobe University’s School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment. As Deputy Director of the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS) and Head of the Viral and Structural Immunology Laboratory, she holds an NHMRC Leadership Fellowship. Her research centers on the molecular mechanisms of T cell responses to viral infections, with a primary focus on HIV, influenza, and SARS-CoV-2. Employing structural immunology techniques, her laboratory of 16 members explores epitope presentation, cross-reactive immunity, and vaccine strategies for durable protection against evolving pathogens.

Gras earned her PhD in France, specializing in structural biology and T cells, before moving to Australia in 2007 for a postdoctoral fellowship in Professor Jamie Rossjohn’s laboratory at Monash University. Around 2017, she established her independent research program at La Trobe University. She has secured funding from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, and Medical Research Future Fund, including $1 million for Long COVID research to advance post-viral illness understanding. Awards include the Dean’s Award for Early Career Researcher, Georgina Sweet Award for Women in Quantitative Biomedical Science, and Sandy Mathieson Medal. Key publications feature in leading journals: “A common allele of HLA is associated with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection” (Nature, 2023), “Canonical T cell receptor docking on peptide-MHC is essential for T cell signaling” (Science, 2021), “Molecular basis of potent antiviral HLA-C-restricted CD8+ T cell response to an immunodominant SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid epitope” (Nature Communications, 2025), and “Central memory T cells with key TCR repertoires and gene expression profiles dominate influenza CD8+ T cell pools across the human lifespan” (PNAS, 2025). Her work influences T cell-based vaccine design, immunotherapy, and insights into immune aging and chronic infections.