Associate Professor Maria Kaparakis-Liaskos obtained her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Melbourne. She undertook post-doctoral studies at Monash University and then at the Hudson Institute, where she also established her independent research group as an inaugural veski inspiring women fellow. In 2016, Maria joined La Trobe University as a teaching and research academic and was appointed Deputy Director, and subsequently Director, of the La Trobe Research Centre for Extracellular Vesicles.
Maria joined the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Doherty Institute in 2024 as a teaching and research academic. Her research is primarily focused on understanding how bacterial pathogens such as Helicobacter pylori cause disease in humans, in addition to determining how bacterial membrane vesicles enhance bacterial survival and promote pathogenesis.
