Principal Investigator
Laura Campello, Ph.D.
Dr. Campello was born and raised in Elche, a charming small city in the Valencian region of Spain. She earned a B.S. in Biology, with a major in Biotechnology, from the University of Alicante, where her curiosity about the complexity of the retina and the neural circuits underlying vision sparked her lifelong interest in retinal biology. Dr. Campello completed her Ph.D. in Experimental and Applied Biology at the same institution under the mentorship of Drs. Nicolás Cuenca and José Martín-Nieto. During her doctoral training, she investigated impairments in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, aberrant alternative splicing, and mitochondrial dysfunction in the retina under pathological conditions. She also contributed to the characterization of novel genes associated with retinitis pigmentosa and played a key role in synthesizing and testing hybrid compounds with combined antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties for inherited retinal degenerations. In addition, she completed a research stay at the prestigious Institut de la Vision in Paris (France) under Dr. Thierry Léveillard, studying protein interacting partners of the rod-derived cone viability factor (RdCVF).
She then pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Anand Swaroop at the National Eye Institute (Bethesda, United States), where she developed optimized methods for generating retinal single-cell suspensions that enabled high-resolution characterization of molecular heterogeneity and transcriptional dysregulation in aging retinal cells. Her work also contributed to studies of age-related macular degeneration, including the identification of ultra-rare coding variants in complement factors 8A and 8B associated with increased risk of non-familial disease. She further participated in the development of gene therapy strategies for dominant CRX-Leber congenital amaurosis using patient-derived stem cell retinal organoids and advanced drug repurposing approaches targeting autophagy in inherited retinal diseases. During this period, her research also uncovered sex-specific differences in retinal gene expression and therapeutic responses.
She later served as Director of Retinal Gene Therapy at Avista Therapeutics (Pittsburgh, United States), where she led development of next-generation retinal gene therapy vectors and optimized suprachoroidal delivery approaches using microneedles and tangential injectors in non-human primate models.
In May 2026, Dr. Campello joined the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, where her laboratory focuses on the molecular mechanisms of retinal aging and age-related retinal disorders.
Outside the lab, Dr. Campello enjoys running outdoors, spending time in the mountains, solving puzzles, and exploring charming bookstores and cozy coffee shops. She brings the same curiosity and sense of discovery that drive her scientific work to exploring new places, ideas, and experiences.