Laura Leighton

Dr Laura Leighton is an RNA biologist with extensive experience in functional characterisation of RNA. Laura is leading the development of next-generation mRNA therapeutics for the treatment of liver cancer. Because mRNA encapsulated within lipid nanoparticles is effectively delivered inside cells, this technology is uniquely suited to targeting the two-thirds of proteins which are only found inside cells, including several notorious drivers of cancer. Laura's research will create drug candidates which are able to inhibit intracellular pro-cancer proteins for the first time. In addition to drug development, Laura is working on mRNA drug delivery in mouse models of liver disease and cancer.

​Laura completed her PhD at the Queensland Brain Institute, working on uncovering the role of small noncoding RNAs in fear-related learning and memory in mice, supported by the Westpac Future Leaders Scholarship (2017). She joined the laboratory of Dr Seth Cheetham at AIBN as a postdoctoral researcher in March 2023.