Laura Mackay is The Sir Gustav Nossal Professor of Immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and Immunology Theme Lead at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne. She completed her PhD at the University of Birmingham and postdoctoral training at the University of Melbourne before establishing her laboratory in 2016. Her lab studies how immune cells adapt to and function within tissues, and how local tissue environments shape immune protection, disease and cancer immunity. Her work on tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM) has provided fundamental insights into the development, maintenance and function of these cells and their roles in infection, cancer and immune-mediated disease. Her work has been recognised through honours including the Prime Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year and election to the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.