Biography

Professor Melissa Little is the Theme Director of Cell Biology and heads the Kidney Research laboratory at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. She is also a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, and Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia.

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Research Interest

Professor Melissa Little has worked on the molecular basis of kidney development for more than 20 years. Her vision is to use this comprehensive understanding of kidney development to diagnose and treat disease. Organ regeneration rests on an understanding of how the organ forms normally. The discoveries she has made in normal nephron development are being harnessed for the development of novel approaches to kidney regeneration. This includes the generation of stem cells for rebuilding of repairing the damaged organ, as well as creating mini-kidneys for use in drug screening and disease modelling.