Rate My Professor Vicki Lawson

Lawson's research centers on the pathogenesis of transmissible neurodegenerative diseases affecting the central nervous system and enteric nervous system, including prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, prion-like synucleinopathies like Parkinson’s disease, viral neuroinvasion by SARS-CoV-2 variants, and prion protein involvement in cancers like colorectal cancer and glioblastoma. Her lab employs in vivo, in vitro, and cell-free models to study strain variations in invasion, neuroinflammation, and disease progression, aiming to develop diagnostics, treatments, and preventive strategies. She collaborates with the Australian Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of Microbiology and Immunology colleagues. Notable awards include the NHMRC Training Fellowship (#567123) and University of Melbourne CR Roper Fellowship (2008-2011). Key publications feature "Distribution of microRNA profiles in pre-clinical and clinical forms of murine and human prion disease" (2021), "Strain variation in treatment and prevention of human prion diseases" (2020), "Markers of A1 astrocytes stratify to molecular sub-types in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease brain" (2020), "The brain to gut pathway: a possible route of prion transmission" (2010), and "Genomic structure of an attenuated quasi species of HIV-1 from a blood transfusion donor and recipients" (1995). Her work has garnered thousands of citations and influenced understanding of post-acute COVID-19 sequelae, as highlighted in ABC Radio National interviews.