My journey in academia began at King’s College London where I pursued a BSc Honours in Molecular Genetics. While acquiring a deep understanding of the fundamentals of genetics, I took modules in computational biology, immunology and stem cell biology. Wanting to contribute to novel research and gain practical experience, I spent my summers in four labs at King’s researching novel cancer drugs, Regulatory T-cell dynamics, myocardial and ischaemia responses using mice and iPSCs and the developmental stem cell dynamics driving myogenesis.

Wanting to learn more about regenerative medicine and advanced iPSC research, I chose to pursue an MSc at Imperial College London in Genes, Drugs and Stem Cells. Here, I developed my experience in the context of academic research at the cutting edge of regenerative medicine, in which I specialised.

Now, at the Skene Lab, I am using CRISPR to genetically modify iPSC derived microglial cells by engineering taggable epitopes into endogenous transcription factors. The goal is to create a complete map of transcription factor binding sites in microglia enabling the interrogation of transcription factor dynamics in Alzheimer’s Disease.

I am deeply in age-related diseases like dementia and ageing. I am particularly fascinated by how immunological dysfunction can exacerbate or even cause diseases, especially in non-regenerating organs like the brain and heart. By combining iPSCs genetic engineering and computational approaches, I aim to develop new models and therapeutics to better our research and treatment capabilities of such diseases.

Beyond academia, I am very interested in philosophy and history but also adventure sports and music, playing guitar and singing opera. I enjoy meeting new people and love challenging new experiences.