Welcome to our new PhDs Ioanna and Livio

Ioanna obtained her MSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Patras where she also received her BSc in Biology. Her research was focused on unraveling molecular links between the lipoprotein system and metabolic diseases. After completing her studies, she worked at the University of Bern where she examined the therapeutic potential of the modulation of tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer by targeting the fibroblastic stroma and immune-mediated resistance. Ioanna joined our lab to characterize the crosstalk between the microbiome and tumor microenvironment in breast cancer aiming to identify novel targets for clinical use.

After graduating for Pharmaceutical Biotechnologies at University of Padua, Livio had the opportunity to do cancer immunology research working in Guido Kroemer Lab in Gustave Roussy Cancer Center (Paris) on dendritic cell cross-presentation and migration in the tumour context. Thereafter, he joined our group in January 2023. His project aims to identify the mechanisms responsible for the immunotherapy resistance in breast cancers in a translational approach that lays the groundwork for the discovery and development of novel therapeutic targets.

Welcome to our new post-doc Maria Rafaeva!

Maria Rafaeva – Postdoctoral Fellow

Cell biologist by training, Maria recently completed PhD at BRIC, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Her work was centered around applications of the extracellular matrix, derived from decellularized tissues, in studying breast and pancreatic cancers progression. Advancing as a cancer researcher, she sets for the next challenge in tackling clinically relevant questions in Momo’s lab, where she will focus her efforts on uncovering mechanisms of therapy resistance in the metastatic breast cancer niches.

Congrats to Michal!

At the occasion of the 4th Multidisciplinary international FEBS/Institut Curie Lecture course on Computational Systems Biology of Cancer Multiomics and Machine learning Approches, Michal has been awarded for the best oral presentation.