Gabrielle Belz

Gabrielle Belz originally trained in veterinary medicine and surgery and received her PhD in understanding the organisation of lymphatics and lymphoid tissues at The University of Queensland. After a short stint in Canada to work on B cells, she moved to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital to work with Peter Doherty supported by an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship. Here she established a number of systems that now allow tracking of virus-specific T cells and established the paradigm changing notion that CD4 T cell help was required for generating antiviral responses. She returned to The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and uncovered the identity of the key dendritic cells necessary for initiating antiviral infections. Subsequently she was awarded the Burnet Prize and NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship. Her research contributions have been recognized by a number of awards including a Wellcome Trust Overseas Fellowship, HHMI international fellowship, ARC Future fellowship, Doctor of Veterinary Science, the Gottschalk Medal (Australian Academy of Science) and in 2024 an ARC Laureate Fellowship. Her laboratory focuses on deciphering the key cellular and transcriptional signals of protective immunity particularly by T cells and in understanding how innate immune cells develop and make novel contributions to mucosal immune defence. Bacteriology, Biological Sciences, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Cellular immunology, Immunology, Immunology not elsewhere classified, Infectious agents, Innate immunity, Microbiology, Tumour immunology, Virology

[2026] Peyer’s patch M cells organize an epithelial niche that sustains group 3 innate lymphoid cells and IL-22 [2026] Current progress in developing mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccines against human bacterial pathogens [2026] Intestinal ILC ‐epithelial cell circuits shaping barrier immunity [2026] The GFI1-FOXO1 axis regulates NK cell maturation and function [2026] Understanding heterogeneity in the pathogenesis and drug responses of ulcerative colitis through single-cell and spatial transcriptomics [2026] One cell, many fates: transcriptional networks governing CD8+ T cell differentiation [2026] Fibroblasts as regulators of lung immunity, repair and fibrosis [2026] SM3DD with segmented PCA: a comprehensive method for interpreting 3D spatial transcriptomics [2026] Transcriptional programming