Professor Gamble graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in Chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Washington in 1996.

After graduating, Lara did post-doctoral research at NESAC/BIO (University of Washington Department of Bioengineering). Her research included NEXAFS studies of the orientation and conformation of self-assembled monolayers as well as surface bound peptides and proteins. Following her time at NESAC/BIO Lara worked in industry for over 3 years first as a research scientist at Zyomyx, Inc. where she investigated new surface modification techniques for DNA and protein chip applications as well as developed surface analytical protocols. After leaving Zyomyx, Lara worked as a senior research scientist at the Space Dynamics Laboratory.

In March 2003 Lara returned to NESAC/BIO as the Scientific Research Coordinator and in 2004, Lara became an Assistant Research Professor in the Bioengineering department at the University of Washington, as well as Assistant Director of NESAC/BIO. She became an Associate Research Professor in Bioengineering in 2011.

Lara’s current research involves the development of techniques for improved analysis of the biomolecule-surface interfaces (for example nanoparticles) as well as improved chemical imaging of biologically relevant samples. Imaging secondary ion mass spectrometry is a surface characterization technique that can provide molecular information with sub-micron resolution. Utilizing the newer cluster ion sources allows us to get 3-D images of cells and tissues as well. The ability to get sub-cellular images of cell and tissues with chemical and molecular specificity would open up a range of possibilities for better understanding and diagnosing biological processes such as tumor microenvironments, lipid metabolomics relationship to cancer, tissue repair, and chemical analysis of tissue and/or cells on a cellular and sub-cellular level. Lara’s research also involves development of the sample preparation, technique development, data processing, and data analysis is critical to make this technology more applicable to the biological/medical community.