Dr Alberto Ospina Stella
Adjunct Associate Lecturer

Dr Alberto Ospina Stella

PhD (molecular virology), M.Sc. (molecular medicine), B.Sc. (molecular biotechnology).

Medicine & Health
The Kirby Institute

Alberto obtained a B.Sc in molecular biotechnology (2012) and a M.Sc. in molecular medicine (2014) from top-rated universities in Germany.  He then completed his PhD at UNSW (2019) and continued his work as postdoctoral research scientist at the Kirby Institute, working on HIV host-pathogen interactions and gene therapy cure approaches for HIV infection.  Since March 2020 (first COVID-19 wave in Australia), Alberto was recruited to work full-time on SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus) research, as part of our institute’s rapid response strategy to the pandemic.

  • Journal articles | 2022
    Aggarwal A; Stella AO; Henry CC; Narayan K; Turville SG, 2022, 'Embedding of HIV Egress within Cortical F-Actin', Pathogens, vol. 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens11010056
    Journal articles | 2022
    Balachandran H; Phetsouphanh C; Agapiou D; Adhikari A; Rodrigo C; Hammoud M; Shrestha LB; Keoshkerian E; Gupta M; Turville S; Christ D; King C; Sasson SC; Bartlett A; Grubor-Bauk B; Rawlinson W; Aggarwal A; Stella AO; Klemm V; Mina MM; Post JJ; Hudson B; Gilroy N; Konecny P; Ahlenstiel G; Dwyer DE; Sorrell TC; Kelleher A; Tedla N; Lloyd AR; Martinello M; Bull RA, 2022, 'Maintenance of broad neutralizing antibodies and memory B cells 1 year post-infection is predicted by SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cell responses', Cell Reports, vol. 38, pp. 110345, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110345
    Journal articles | 2022
    Counoupas C; Pino P; Stella AO; Ashley C; Lukeman H; Bhattacharyya ND; Tada T; Anchisi S; Metayer C; Martinis J; Aggarwal A; Dcosta BM; Britton WJ; Kint J; Wurm MJ; Landau NR; Steain M; Turville SG; Wurm FM; David SA; Triccas JA, 2022, 'High-Titer Neutralizing Antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant Induced by Alhydroxyquim-II-Adjuvanted Trimeric Spike Antigens', Microbiology Spectrum, vol. 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.01695-21
    Journal articles | 2022
    Perkins GB; Tunbridge M; Salehi T; Chai CS; Kireta S; Johnston J; Penko D; Nitschke J; Yeow AEL; Al-Delfi Z; Drogemuller CJ; Garcia-Valtanen P; Masavuli MG; Hope CM; Singer J; Aggarwal A; Ospina Stella A; Turville SG; Hurtado PR; Barry SC; Hissaria P; Grubor-Bauk B; Chadban SJ; Coates PT, 2022, 'Concurrent vaccination of kidney transplant recipients and close household cohabitants against COVID-19', Kidney International, vol. 101, pp. 1077 - 1080, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.kint.2022.02.015
    Journal articles | 2021
    Abayasingam A; Balachandran H; Agapiou D; Hammoud M; Rodrigo C; Keoshkerian E; Li H; Brasher NA; Christ D; Rouet R; Burnet D; Grubor-Bauk B; Rawlinson W; Turville S; Aggarwal A; Stella AO; Fichter C; Brilot F; Mina M; Post JJ; Hudson B; Gilroy N; Dwyer D; Sasson SC; Tea F; Pilli D; Kelleher A; Tedla N; Lloyd AR; Martinello M; Bull RA, 2021, 'Long-term persistence of RBD+ memory B cells encoding neutralizing antibodies in SARS-CoV-2 infection', Cell Reports Medicine, vol. 2, pp. 100228, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2021.100228
    Journal articles | 2021
    Beaton B; Sasson SC; Rankin K; Raedemaeker J; Wong A; Hastak P; Warden A; Stella AO; Aggarwal A; Caterson ID; Phetsouphanh C; Turville S; Kelleher AD; Brilot F; Trotman J, 2021, 'Efficacy of Vaccine BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) in Individuals with Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia and Follicular Lymphoma in Australia', BLOOD, vol. 138, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2021-149348
    Journal articles | 2021
    Burnett DL; Jackson KJL; Langley DB; Aggrawal A; Stella AO; Johansen MD; Balachandran H; Lenthall H; Rouet R; Walker G; Saunders BM; Singh M; Li H; Henry JY; Jackson J; Stewart AG; Witthauer F; Spence MA; Hansbro NG; Jackson C; Schofield P; Milthorpe C; Martinello M; Schulz SR; Roth E; Kelleher A; Emery S; Britton WJ; Rawlinson WD; Karl R; Schäfer S; Winkler TH; Brink R; Bull RA; Hansbro PM; Jäck HM; Turville S; Christ D; Goodnow CC, 2021, 'Immunizations with diverse sarbecovirus receptor-binding domains elicit SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies against a conserved site of vulnerability', Immunity, vol. 54, pp. 2908 - 2921.e6, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2021.10.019
    Journal articles | 2021
    Counoupas C; Johansen MD; Stella AO; Nguyen DH; Ferguson AL; Aggarwal A; Bhattacharyya ND; Grey A; Hutchings O; Patel K; Siddiquee R; Stewart EL; Feng CG; Hansbro NG; Palendira U; Steain MC; Saunders BM; Low JKK; Mackay JP; Kelleher AD; Britton WJ; Turville SG; Hansbro PM; Triccas JA, 2021, 'A single dose, BCG-adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine provides sterilising immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection', npj Vaccines, vol. 6, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41541-021-00406-4
    Journal articles | 2021
    Estcourt LJ; Turgeon AF; McQuilten ZK; McVerry BJ; Al-Beidh F; Annane D; Arabi YM; Arnold DM; Beane A; Bégin P; Van Bentum-Puijk W; Berry LR; Bhimani Z; Birchall JE; Bonten MJM; Bradbury CA; Brunkhorst FM; Buxton M; Callum JL; Chassé M; Cheng AC; Cove ME; Daly J; Derde L; Detry MA; De Jong M; Evans A; Fergusson DA; Fish M; Fitzgerald M; Foley C; Goossens H; Gordon AC; Gosbell IB; Green C; Haniffa R; Harvala H; Higgins AM; Hills TE; Hoad VC; Horvat C; Huang DT; Hudson CL; Ichihara N; Laing E; Lamikanra AA; Lamontagne F; Lawler PR; Linstrum K; Litton E; Lorenzi E; Maclennan S; Marshall J; McAuley DF; McDyer JF; McGlothlin A; McGuinness S; Miflin G; Montgomery S; Mouncey PR; Murthy S; Nichol A; Parke R; Parker JC; Priddee N; Purcell DFJ; Reyes LF; Richardson P; Robitaille N; Rowan KM; Rynne J; Saito H; Santos M; Saunders CT; Serpa Neto A; Seymour CW; Silversides JA; Tinmouth AA; Triulzi DJ; Turner AM; Van De Veerdonk F; Walsh TS; Wood EM; Berry S; Lewis RJ; Menon DK; McArthur C; Zarychanski R; Angus DC; Webb SA; Roberts DJ; Shankar-Hari M, 2021, 'Effect of Convalescent Plasma on Organ Support-Free Days in Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19: A Randomized Clinical Trial', JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 326, pp. 1690 - 1702, http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.18178
    Journal articles | 2021
    Li L; Honda-Okubo Y; Huang Y; Jang H; Carlock MA; Baldwin J; Piplani S; Bebin-Blackwell AG; Forgacs D; Sakamoto K; Stella A; Turville S; Chataway T; Colella A; Triccas J; Ross TM; Petrovsky N, 2021, 'Immunisation of ferrets and mice with recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike protein formulated with Advax-SM adjuvant protects against COVID-19 infection', Vaccine, vol. 39, pp. 5940 - 5953, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.07.087
    Journal articles | 2021
    Tea F; Stella AO; Aggarwal A; Darley DR; Pilli D; Vitale D; Merheb V; Lee FXZ; Cunningham P; Walker GJ; Fichter C; Brown DA; Rawlinson WD; Isaacs SR; Mathivanan V; Hoffmann M; Pöhlman S; Mazigi O; Christ D; Rockett RJ; Sintchenko V; Hoad VC; Irving DO; Dore GJ; Gosbell IB; Kelleher AD; Matthews GV; Brilot F; Turville SG, 2021, 'SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies: Longevity, breadth, and evasion by emerging viral variants', PLoS Medicine, vol. 18, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003656
    Journal articles | 2021
    Walker GJ; Naing Z; Stella AO; Yeang M; Caguicla J; Ramachandran V; Isaacs SR; Agapiou D; Bull RA; Stelzer-Braid S; Daly J; Gosbell IB; Hoad VC; Irving DO; Pink JM; Turville S; Kelleher AD; Rawlinson WD, 2021, 'Sars coronavirus-2 microneutralisation and commercial serological assays correlated closely for some but not all enzyme immunoassays', Viruses, vol. 13, pp. 247 - 247, http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13020247
    Journal articles | 2020
    Stelzer-Braid S; Walker GJ; Aggarwal A; Isaacs SR; Yeang M; Naing Z; Ospina Stella A; Turville SG; Rawlinson WD, 2020, 'Virus isolation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) for diagnostic and research purposes', Pathology, vol. 52, pp. 760 - 763, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pathol.2020.09.012
    Journal articles | 2020
    Tea F; Stella AO; Aggarwal A; Darley DR; Pilli D; Vitale D; Merheb V; Lee FXZ; Cunningham P; Walker GJ; Brown DA; Rawlinson WD; Isaacs SR; Mathivanan V; Hoffman M; Pöhlmann S; Dwyer DE; Rockett R; Sintchenko V; Hoad VC; Irving DO; Dore GJ; Gosbell IB; Kelleher AD; Matthews GV; Brilot F; Turville SG, 2020, 'SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies; longevity, breadth, and evasion by emerging viral variants', , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.19.20248567
    Journal articles | 2020
    Van Bockel D; Munier CML; Turville S; Badman SG; Walker G; Stella AO; Aggarwal A; Yeang M; Condylios A; Kelleher AD; Applegate TL; Vallely A; Whiley D; Rawlinson W; Cunningham P; Kaldor J; Guy R, 2020, 'Evaluation of commercially available viral transport medium (VTM) for SARS-CoV-2 inactivation and use in point-of-care (POC) testing', Viruses, vol. 12, pp. 1208 - 1208, http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v12111208
    Journal articles | 2020
    Walker G; Clifford V; Bansal N; Stella AO; Turville S; Stelzer-Braid S; Klein L; Rawlinson W, 2020, 'SARS-CoV-2 in human milk is inactivated by Holder pasteurization but not cold storage', , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.18.20134395
    Journal articles | 2020
    Walker G; Naing Z; Stella AO; Yeang M; Caguicla J; Ramachandran V; Isaacs S; Agapiou D; Bull R; Stelzer-Braid S; Daly J; Gosbell I; Hoad V; Irving D; Pink J; Turville S; Kelleher A; Rawlinson W, 2020, 'SARS Coronavirus-2 microneutralisation and commercial serological assays correlated closely for some but not all enzyme immunoassays', , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.07.20245696
    Journal articles | 2020
    Walker GJ; Clifford V; Bansal N; Stella AO; Turville S; Stelzer-Braid S; Klein LD; Rawlinson W, 2020, 'SARS-CoV-2 in human milk is inactivated by Holder pasteurisation but not cold storage', Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, vol. 56, pp. 1872 - 1874, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpc.15065
    Journal articles | 2019
    Aggarwal A; Ospina Stella A; Henry C; Narayan K; Turville S, 2019, 'HIV corruption of the Arp2/3-Cdc42-IQGAP1 axis to hijack cortical F-Actin to promote cell-cell viral spread', , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2019.12.13.873612
    Journal articles | 2019
    Hu W; Cai Y; Zhu Y; Li F; Stella AO; Tebas P; Mounzer K; Kostman J; Turville S; Montaner L, 2019, 'Cleaving HIV-1 provirus from ART-suppressed patient-derived resting CD4 T Cells using Cpf1/crRNA-array ribonucleotide protein packaged by CD4-targeting lentivirus-like particle', Journal of Virus Eradication, vol. 5, pp. 55 - 56, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s2055-6640(20)30221-1
    Journal articles | 2018
    Stella AO; Turville S, 2018, 'All-round manipulation of the actin cytoskeleton by HIV', Viruses, vol. 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v10020063
    Journal articles | 2014
    Kaspar D; Auer F; Schardt J; Schindele F; Ospina A; Held C; Ehrenreich A; Scherer S; Mueller-Herbst S, 2014, 'Temperature- and nitrogen source-dependent regulation of GlnR target genes in Listeria monocytogenes', FEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS, vol. 355, pp. 131 - 141, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1574-6968.12458
  • Preprints | 2022
    Aggarwal A; Stella A; Akerman A; Walker G; Milogiannakis V; McAllery S; Esneau C; Silva MR; Lu Y; Forster C; Hal SV; Mathivanan V; Fitcher C; Hoppe AC; Munier ML; Darley D; Matthews G; Starck D; Robosa R; Bartlett N; Rawlinson W; Kelleher A; Turville S, 2022, Rapid isolation and resolution immune evasion and viral fitness across contemporary SARS-CoV-2 variants, http://dx.doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1210846/v1
    Preprints | 2022
    Loo L; Waller M; Cole A; Stella A; Moreno C; Denes C; Hamoudi Z; Chung F; Aggarwal A; Low J; Patel K; Siddiquee R; Mackay J; Turville S; Hesselson D; Neely G, 2022, LRRC15 suppresses SARS-CoV-2 infection and controls collagen production, http://dx.doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1172665/v1
    Preprints | 2021
    Aggarwal A; Stella AO; Walker G; Akerman A; Milogiannakis V; Brilot F; Amatayakul-Chantler S; Roth N; Coppola G; Schofield P; Jackson J; Henry J; Mazigi O; Langley D; Lu Y; Forster C; McAllery S; Mathivanan V; Fichter C; Hoppe AC; Munier ML; Jack H-M; Cromer D; Darley D; Matthews G; Christ D; Khoury D; Davenport M; Rawlinson W; Kelleher A; Turville S, 2021, SARS-CoV-2 Omicron: evasion of potent humoral responses and resistance to clinical immunotherapeutics relative to viral variants of concern, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.14.21267772
    Preprints | 2021
    Counoupas C; Pino P; Stella A; Ashley C; Lukeman H; Bhattacharyya N; Tada T; Anchisi S; Metayer C; Martinis J; Aggarwal A; Dcosta B; Kint J; Wurm M; Landau N; Steain M; Turville S; Wurm F; David S; Triccas J, 2021, Neutralising antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant induced by Alhydroxyquim-II-adjuvanted trimeric spike antigens, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.18.456891
    Preprints | 2021
    Garcia-Valtanen P; Hope C; Masavuli M; Lip Yeow AE; Balachandran H; Mekonnen Z; Al-Delfi Z; Abayasingam A; Agapiou D; Stella AO; Aggarwal A; Gummow J; Ferguson C; O’Connor S; McCartney E; Lynn D; Maddern G; Gowans E; Reddi BAJ; Shaw D; Kok-Lim C; Turville S; Beard M; Weiskopf D; Sette A; Bull R; Barry S; Grubor-Bauk B, 2021, COVID-19 convalescents exhibit deficient humoral and T cell responses to variant of concern Spike antigens at 12 month post-infection, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.08.21266035
    Preprints | 2021
    Li L; Honda-Okubo Y; Huang Y; Jang H; Carlock MA; Baldwin J; Piplani S; Bebin-Blackwell AG; Forgacs D; Sakamoto K; Stella A; Turville S; Chataway T; Colella A; Triccas J; Ross TM; Petrovsky N, 2021, Immunisation of ferrets and mice with recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike protein formulated with Advax-SM adjuvant protects against COVID-19 infection, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.03.451026
    Preprints | 2021
    Loo L; Waller M; Moreno C; Cole A; Stella AO; Pop O-T; Jochum A-K; Ali OH; Denes C; Hamoudi Z; Chung F; Aggarwal A; Low J; Patel K; Siddiquee R; Kang T; Mathivanan S; Mackay J; Flatz L; Hesselson D; Turville S; Neely G, 2021, Fibroblast-expressed LRRC15 suppresses SARS-CoV-2 infection and controls antiviral and antifibrotic transcriptional programs, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.09.467981
    Preprints |
    Balachandran H; Phetsouphanh C; Agapiou D; Adhikari A; Rodrigo C; Hammoud M; Shrestha LB; Keoshkerian E; Gupta M; Turville S; Christ D; King C; Sasson S; Bartlett A; Grubor-Bauk B; Rawlinson W; Aggarwal A; Stella AO; Klemm V; Mina MM; Post JJ; Hudson B; Gilroy N; Konecny P; Ahlenstiel G; Dwyer D; Sorrell TC; Kelleher A; Tedla N; Lloyd AR; Martinello M; Bull RA, Maintenance of Broad Neutralising Antibodies and Memory B Cells 12 Months Post-Infection Is Predicted by SARS-CoV-2 Specific CD4+ T Cell Responses, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3920641

 In early 2020, Alberto helped to establish novel coronavirus research in the Kirby Institute's PC3 high-containment laboratory.  Since then, he  continues to lead several important research efforts within this space, with the aim to unveil knowledge and tools that assist us in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of these projects include the identification of highly-neutralizing sera against SARS-CoV-2, characterization of the COVID-19 immune response over time, collaborative testing of samples from Australian vaccine candidates, antiviral drug screenings and identification of cellular host factors required for SARS-CoV-2 viral infection.