Dr Ursula Manuelpillai

Senior NHMRC Research Officer & Senior Scientist

Centre for Reproduction & Development

Dr Ursula Manuelpillai is a Senior NHMRC Research Officer and a Senior Scientist in the Centre for Reproduction and Development. She obtained her PhD from Victoria University of Technology in 2000 and joined as post-doctoral scientist to investigate placental-maternal interactions that lead to pathogenesis of pregnancy disorders and factors regulating uterine fibroid growth.

More recently, she pioneered studies investigating the stem cell-like properties of Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells isolated from the placenta and was among the first to describe their multi-lineage differentiation potential. She remains a world leader in the field. Her group is assessing the potential applications of Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells in cell replacement therapies, tissue regeneration and repair using animal models that mimic liver and lung diseases and type I diabetes, the molecular mechanisms and the host immune responses elicited against these stem-like cells.

Dr Manuelpillai received the Arthur Wilson Fellowship from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Research Foundation, a New Investigator Award from the Australian & New Zealand Placental Research Association and Awards from the International Federation of Placental Associations and the Society for Gynecological Investigations, USA. She is a founder member of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research (www.asscr.org) and an invited committee member of the International Placenta Stem Cell Society (www.iplass.org) and member of the scientific committee of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (www.termis.org). Her studies are funded primarily by NH&MRC project and Philanthropic grants.