Gerlanda Vella earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences (cancer curriculum) at VIB-KU Leuven, Belgium, under the supervision of Prof. Gabriele Bergers. Her doctoral research focused on elucidating the interactions between the blood vasculature (high endothelial venules-HEVs) and immune cells within tertiary lymphoid structures in tumors.

Starting from July 2023, she is a post-doctoral researcher in the prof. Rescigno Lab. Her project, funded by EMBO, aims at developing novel vaccine immunotherapies to overcome intratumoral microbiota-induced chemoresistance in sarcoma.