Prof Melissa Little
Prof Melissa Little
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Professor Melissa Little, AC, BSc (Hons I), PhD, GAICD, FAAHMS, FAAS, is CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW), Chief Scientist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and leader of the Kidney Regeneration Laboratory, Melbourne. Melissa is the Past President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and holds an honorary position as Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne.
Internationally recognised for her work on kidney development and her pioneering studies into potential regenerative therapies in the kidney, Professor Little’s approach to generating kidney organoids from human pluripotent stem cells has been adopted across the globe where it is being applied to disease modelling, drug screening and renal replacement therapies. Founded on >30 years of fundamental developmental biology, her stem cell research illustrates the capacity for understanding to be applied to product development. Professor Little’s work has been recognised by many awards, including the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence (2005); an Eisenhower Fellowship (2006); a Boorhaave Professorship (2015); an Honorary Doctorate (2019), Leiden University; the Eureka Prize (2016); the Alfred Newton Richards Award from the International Society for Nephrology (2018) for her kidney organoid research; the Julian Wells Medal (2020) for her outstanding contribution to understanding of genetic basis of kidney development; the Homer W. Smith Award (2021) for outstanding contributions that fundamentally affect the science of nephrology; and, the NHMRC Marshall and Warren Ideas Grant Award (2021) for being the top ranked recipient in the Ideas Grant Scheme for 2021.
Melissa is a Companion of the Order of Australia, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, a Fellow of the Danish Royal Academy of Science and Letters. She is on the editorial board of the Cell Stem Cell, Nature Reviews Nephrology, Development and Kidney International. Melissa has previously held the role of President of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research, Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia, and the Chief Scientific Officer of the Australian Stem Cell Centre.
Internationally recognised for her work on kidney development and her pioneering studies into potential regenerative therapies in the kidney, Professor Little’s approach to generating kidney organoids from human pluripotent stem cells has been adopted across the globe where it is being applied to disease modelling, drug screening and renal replacement therapies. Founded on >30 years of fundamental developmental biology, her stem cell research illustrates the capacity for understanding to be applied to product development. Professor Little’s work has been recognised by many awards, including the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence (2005); an Eisenhower Fellowship (2006); a Boorhaave Professorship (2015); an Honorary Doctorate (2019), Leiden University; the Eureka Prize (2016); the Alfred Newton Richards Award from the International Society for Nephrology (2018) for her kidney organoid research; the Julian Wells Medal (2020) for her outstanding contribution to understanding of genetic basis of kidney development; the Homer W. Smith Award (2021) for outstanding contributions that fundamentally affect the science of nephrology; and, the NHMRC Marshall and Warren Ideas Grant Award (2021) for being the top ranked recipient in the Ideas Grant Scheme for 2021.
Melissa is a Companion of the Order of Australia, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, a Fellow of the Danish Royal Academy of Science and Letters. She is on the editorial board of the Cell Stem Cell, Nature Reviews Nephrology, Development and Kidney International. Melissa has previously held the role of President of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research, Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia, and the Chief Scientific Officer of the Australian Stem Cell Centre.
Professor Melissa Little, AC, BSc (Hons I), PhD, GAICD, FAAHMS, FAAS, is CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW), Chief Scientist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and leader of the Kidney Regeneration...
Professor Melissa Little, AC, BSc (Hons I), PhD, GAICD, FAAHMS, FAAS, is CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW), Chief Scientist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and leader of the Kidney Regeneration Laboratory, Melbourne. Melissa is the Past President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and holds an honorary position as Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne.
Internationally recognised for her work on kidney development and her pioneering studies into potential regenerative therapies in the kidney, Professor Little’s approach to generating kidney organoids from human pluripotent stem cells has been adopted across the globe where it is being applied to disease modelling, drug screening and renal replacement therapies. Founded on >30 years of fundamental developmental biology, her stem cell research illustrates the capacity for understanding to be applied to product development. Professor Little’s work has been recognised by many awards, including the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence (2005); an Eisenhower Fellowship (2006); a Boorhaave Professorship (2015); an Honorary Doctorate (2019), Leiden University; the Eureka Prize (2016); the Alfred Newton Richards Award from the International Society for Nephrology (2018) for her kidney organoid research; the Julian Wells Medal (2020) for her outstanding contribution to understanding of genetic basis of kidney development; the Homer W. Smith Award (2021) for outstanding contributions that fundamentally affect the science of nephrology; and, the NHMRC Marshall and Warren Ideas Grant Award (2021) for being the top ranked recipient in the Ideas Grant Scheme for 2021.
Melissa is a Companion of the Order of Australia, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, a Fellow of the Danish Royal Academy of Science and Letters. She is on the editorial board of the Cell Stem Cell, Nature Reviews Nephrology, Development and Kidney International. Melissa has previously held the role of President of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research, Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia, and the Chief Scientific Officer of the Australian Stem Cell Centre.
Internationally recognised for her work on kidney development and her pioneering studies into potential regenerative therapies in the kidney, Professor Little’s approach to generating kidney organoids from human pluripotent stem cells has been adopted across the globe where it is being applied to disease modelling, drug screening and renal replacement therapies. Founded on >30 years of fundamental developmental biology, her stem cell research illustrates the capacity for understanding to be applied to product development. Professor Little’s work has been recognised by many awards, including the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence (2005); an Eisenhower Fellowship (2006); a Boorhaave Professorship (2015); an Honorary Doctorate (2019), Leiden University; the Eureka Prize (2016); the Alfred Newton Richards Award from the International Society for Nephrology (2018) for her kidney organoid research; the Julian Wells Medal (2020) for her outstanding contribution to understanding of genetic basis of kidney development; the Homer W. Smith Award (2021) for outstanding contributions that fundamentally affect the science of nephrology; and, the NHMRC Marshall and Warren Ideas Grant Award (2021) for being the top ranked recipient in the Ideas Grant Scheme for 2021.
Melissa is a Companion of the Order of Australia, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, a Fellow of the Danish Royal Academy of Science and Letters. She is on the editorial board of the Cell Stem Cell, Nature Reviews Nephrology, Development and Kidney International. Melissa has previously held the role of President of the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research, Program Leader of Stem Cells Australia, and the Chief Scientific Officer of the Australian Stem Cell Centre.
Top Publications
- Lawlor, KT, Vanslambrouck, JM, Higgins, JW, Chambon, A, Bishard, K, Arndt, D, Er, PX, Wilson, SB, Howden, SE, Tan, KS, et al. Cellular extrusion bioprinting improves kidney organoid reproducibility and conformation.. Nat Mater 20(2) : 260 -271 2021 view publication
- Kairath, P, Er, PX, Wilson, S, Ghobrial, I, Vanslambrouck, JM, Chen, Y-H, Pruett-Miller, SM, Jain, S, Little, MH. In vitro plasticity between ureteric epithelial and distal nephron identity and maturity is controlled by extracellular signals.. Dev Biol 533: 75 -88 2026 view publication
- Pachernegg, S, Robevska, G, Ferreira, LGA, Charitakis, N, Gu, J, Terhag, J, Martin, E, Bienroth, D, van den Bergen, J, Wilson, SB, et al. The emergence of multiple testicular cell lineages in human stem cell-derived testis-like organoids.. Development 153(5) : 2026 view publication
- Little, MH, Wilson, SB. Advances and continuing challenges in differentiation of stem cells to human kidney tissue.. Nat Rev Nephrol 22(2) : 122 -136 2026 view publication
- Chesor, M, Tuffin, J, May, C, Ghobrial, I, Little, M, Welsh, G, Saleem, M. Recurrent Nephrotic Plasma Activates Pro-fibrotic Signalling Pathways Downstream of Protease-activated Receptor 1. 2026 view publication
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