Vala completed a Bachelor of Biotechnology (Honours 1st class) at UNSW. His honours project involved expressing novel gammaprefoldins within the SynBio lab. He joined the lab in 2023 and is currently in his first year of his PhD candidature. Vala has two major projects. The first focuses on investigating novel partner proteins of the KLF transcription family; with the goal of understanding the role functional domains plays in transcription factor recruitment to genome sites. The second project involves looking at how epigenetic readers play a role in specifying genome occupancy through the use of artificial zinc fingers and other synthetic transcription factors. In his spare time Vala enjoys playing the flute, being an international man of mystery, and watching Ferrari mess up in Formula 1.
Crossley Lab