I am interested in bioinformatics, internationalisation (where I am School of Life Sciences lead, University of Liverpool) and employability.

As Director of Study for the Integrated Master in Biological Sciences, MBiolSci, I have a leadership role on students’ employability and transferable skills development by organising and supporting internships and placements, both national and international. 
As Director of Internationalisation, my role is the further strengthening of the partnership with Professional Services, especially International Development, to ensure that all aspects of internationalisation are enhanced across the School.

I teach bioinformatics at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. My passion for teaching bioinformatics has been recognised by four Teaching Awards: 2013 and 2016 Excellence in Teaching and the 2015/16 Sir Alistair Pilkington, and 2019 Biochemical Society Teaching Excellence. The latter is related to a students-as-partners teaching approach helping with student engagement and employability skills development.

I conduct pedagogical research which has led to several publications, and I have been appointed as Editor of Education with FEBS Open BIO. I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA, Fellow of the RSB, and the Chair Theme Training Panel of the Biochemical Society. I also serve on the Education Committee for the Biochemical Society and FEBS. I have PGCert and MA in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Educational Publications

1. Mello LV, Tregilgas L, Cowley G, Gupta A, Makki F, Jhutty A, Shanmugasundram A. (2017) Students-as-partners’ scheme enhances postgraduate students’ employability while addressing gaps in bioinformatics education. Higher Education Pedagogy, 2(1), DOI: 10.1080/23752696.2017.1339287.
2. Mello LV, Voelkel S. (2017) How undergraduate and postgraduate science students perceive self and peer assessed group work. PESTLHE, 12(1): 22-44.
3. Mello LV (2016) Fostering postgraduate student engagement: online resources supporting self-directed learning in a diverse cohort. Research in Learning Technology, 24, 29366, DOI: 10.3402/rlt.v24.29366.
4. Voelkel S, Mello LV, Varga-Atkins, T. (2016) Supporting students during their undergraduate research projects using audio recordings. Innovations in Education and Teaching International; DOI: 10.1080/14703297.2016.1263233.
5. Voelkel S and Mello LV. (2014) Audio feedback: better feedback? Biosciences Education, DOI:10.11120/beej.2014.00022.
6. Mello, LV (2014) Fostering postgraduate student engagement in bioinformatics at a UK university. Master Thesis, The University of Liverpool. 

Scientific Publications: selection

1. Mello LV, Rigden DJ. (2012) A new family of bacterial DNA repair proteins annotated by the integration of non-homology, distant homology and structural bioinformatic methods. FEBS Lett., 586(21): 3908-3913. 
2. Lowe CD, Mello LV, Samatar N, Martin LE, Montagnes DJ, Watts PC. (2011) The transcriptome of the novel dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina (Alveolata: Dinophyceae): response to salinity examined by 454 sequencing. BMC Genomics, 20(12): 519.
3. Webster LM, Mello LV, Mougeot F, Martinez-Padilla J, Paterson S, Piertney SB. (2011) Identification of genes responding to nematode infection in red grouse. Mol Ecol Resour., 11(2): 305-13.
4. O'Meara H, Barber R, Mello LV, Sangaralingam A, Viney ME, Paterson S. (2010) Response of the Strongyloides ratti transcriptome to host immunological environment. Int J Parasitol., 40(14): 1609-17. 
5. Mello LV, Chen X, Rigden DJ. (2010) BACON, a novel carbohydrate-binding domain with a predicted B-barrel fold. FEBS Lett., 584(11): 2421-6. 
6. O’Meara H, Barber R, Mello LV, Sangaralingham A, Viney ME, Paterson S. (2010)  How do parasites respond to host immunity? Plastic and heritable responses of Strongyloides ratti revealed by transcriptome profiling. Int J Parasitol., 40(14): 1609-17.
7. Mello LV, O’Meara H, Rigden DJ, Paterson S. (2009) Identification of novel aspartic proteases from Strongyloides ratti and characterisation of their evolutionary relationships, stage-specific expression and molecular structure. BMC Genomics, 10:611. 
8. Li Weizhong, Gracey  AY, Mello LV, Brass A, Cossins AR. (2009) ExprAlign – the identification of ESTs in non-model species by alignment of cDNA microarray expression profiles. BMC Genomics, 10:560.
9. Brownridge P*, Mello LV*, Peters M, McLean L, Claydon A, Cossins AR, Whitfield PD, Young IS. (2009) Regional variation in parvalbumin isoform expression correlates with muscle performance in common carp (Cyprinus carpio). J Exp Biol., 212:184-93. *These authors contributed equally to this work.
10. Doneux T, Bouffier L, Mello LV, Rigden DJ, Fernig DG, Higgins SJ and Nichols RJ. (2009) Molecular Dynamics and Electrochemical Investigations of a pH-Responsive Peptide Monolayer. J. Phys. Chem., 113:6792-6799.
11. Knegt FH, Mello LV, Reis FC, Santos MT, Vicentini R, Ferraz LF, Ottoboni LM. (2008) ribB and ribBA genes from Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans: expression levels under different growth conditions and phylogenetic analysis. Res. Microbiol., 159(6): 423-31.
12. Evan H, Mello LV, Fang Y, Wit E, Thompson FJ, Viney ME, Paterson S. (2008) Microarray analysis of gender- and parasite-specific gene transcription in Strongyloides ratti. Int J Parasitol., 38(11): 1329-41.
13. Palmer ZJ, Duncan R, Johnson J, Lian LY, Mello LV, Booth D, Barclay JW, Graham ME, Burgoyne RD, Prior I, Morgan A. (2008) S-nitrosylation of syntaxin 1 at Cys145 is a regulatory switch controlling Munc18-1 binding. Biochem J., 413(3): 479-91.
14. Fraser J, Mello LV, Ward D, Rees HR, Williams DR, Fang Y, Brass A, Gracey AY and Cossins AR. (2006). Hypoxia-inducible myoglobin expression in nonmuscle tissues. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 103:2977-81. 
15. Inglis, PW, Rigden DJ, Mello LV, Louis EJ and Valadares-Inglis MC. (2005) Monomorphic subtelomeric DNA in the filamentous fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae, contains a RecQ helicase-like gene. Mol. Genet. Genomics, 274: 79-90.
16. Dalmolin CC, da Silva FR, Mello LV, Rigden DJ and Castro MEB. (2005) Nucleotide sequence and phylogenetic analyses of the DNA polymerase gene of Anticarsia gemmatalis nucleopolyhedrovirus. Virus Research, 110: 99-109. 
17. Rigden DJ, Mello LV and Galperin, MY. (2004) The PA14 domain, a conserved all-beta domain in bacterial toxins, carbohydrate-active enzymes and adhesins. Trends Biochem Sci. J.,  29:335-9
18. Rodrigues JCM, Cabral GB, Dusi DMA, Mello LV, Rigden DJ and Carneiro VTC. (2003) Identification of differentially expressed cDNA sequences in ovaries of sexual and apomictic plants of Brachiaria brizantha. Plant Mol. Biol., 53:745-57.
19. Rigden DJ, Jedrzejas MJ, Mello LV. (2003) Identification and analysis of catalytic TIM barrel domains in seven further glycoside hydrolase families. FEBS Lett., 544:103-11.
20. Franco OL, Grossi de Sa MF, Sales MP, Mello LV, Oliveira AS, Rigden DJ. (2002) Overlapping binding sites for trypsin and papain on a Kunitz-type proteinase inhibitor from Prosopis juliflora. Proteins, 49(3): 335-41.
21. Mello LV, De Groot BL, Li S, Jedrzejas MJ. (2002) Structure and flexibility of Streptococcus agalactiae hyaluronate lyase complex with its substrate. Insights into the mechanism of processive degradation of hyaluronan. J Biol Chem., 277(39): 36678-88.
22. Mello LV, Millner PA, Findlay JB. (2002) Biochemical characteristics of guanine nucleotide binding protein alpha-subunit recombinant protein and three mutants: investigation of a domain motion involved in GDP-GTP exchange. J Prot. Chem., 21(1): 29-34.
23. Jedrzejas MJ, Mello LV, de Groot BL, Li S. (2002) Mechanism of hyaluronan degradation by Streptococcus pneumoniae hyaluronate lyase. Structures of complexes with the substrate. J Biol Chem., 277(31): 28287-97.
24. Rigden DJ, Mello LV and Jedrzejas MJ. (2002) Structure and mechanism of action of a cofactor-dependent phosphoglycerate mutase homolog from Bacillus stearothermophilus with broad specificity phosphatase activity. J Mol Biol., 315(5): 1129-43.
25. Rigden DJ, Mello LV and Bertioli DJ. (2000) Structural modelling of a plant disease resistance gene product domain. Proteins, 41:133-143.
26. Mello LV, van Aalten DMF and Findlay JBC. (1998) Dynamic properties of the G-protein alpha subunit and comparison of its GTPase domain with ras-p21. Biochemistry, 37:3137-3142. 
27. Mello LV, van Aalten DMF and Findlay JBC. (1997) Comparison of ras-p21 bound to GDP and GTP: differences in protein and ligand dynamics. Prot. Eng., 10(4): 381-387.
28. Mello LV, Silva WJ, Medina-Filho HP and Balvve R. (1995) Breeding  system in Coix lacryma-jobi populations. Euphytica, 81: 217-221.
29. Mello LV and Silva WJ. (1994) Caracteres para Diferenciação de Populações de Coix lacryma-jobi. Rev. Brasil.  Botân., 17(2): 195-200.