From left to right: Miriam Vazquez Segoviano, Sara Gonzalez Ortega, Anna Melati, Victoria Menne, Anna Salowka
Conceptualised by scientists working with stem cells at King’s College London and originally exhibited as part of UTOPIA 2016: A Year of Imagination and Possibility - The Stem Cell Hotel art installation now greets everyone on entry to the Centre for Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine.
I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the Technical University Braunschweig (Germany), where alongside my studies I worked as a student research assistant at the Department of Cellular Neurobiology. During this degree, both my thesis project in Prof Martin Korte’s lab and an extracurricular project in Prof Tim Karl’s lab at Western Sydney University focussed on behavioural neuroscience. I then went on to complete a Master’s degree in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Maastricht (The Netherlands) with a 10-month placement in Prof Vincenzo De Paola’s group at Imperial College London. Here, I had the chance to gain insight into modelling human neuron development in vivo using a xenotransplantation approach. Before starting the ATRM PhD program, I joined the Cells for Sight team led by Prof Julie Daniels at University College London as a research assistant manufacturing artificial ocular surface tissue under GMP conditions.
I obtained my BSc in Biochemistry with Professional Experience at The University of Manchester. During my studies, I completed a placement year at the University of California San Francisco at Guo Huang's laboratory to study the regenerative potential of the heart. During this time, I became fascinated by the striking regenerative potential displayed across the animal kingdom and how some of these mechanisms of regeneration are reiterated across ontogeny and phylogeny. For my final year project in Manchester, I joined Karl Kadler's laboratory to explore the circadian regulation of collagen fibrils in response to immune cells in the heart and lungs. Upon completing my undergraduate studies, I wished to pursue a career in academia dedicated to regeneration in a translational field.
I completed my bachelor’s degree in biotechnology engineering with a minor in molecular biology at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. During my degree, I undertook a year internship in Dr. Dario Lemos Lab at the Harvard Institutes of Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Here, I developed kidney organoids from patient-derived stem cells to model tuberous sclerosis complex, a rare degenerative disease.
I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the university of Pavia, Italy. During my thesis I focused on hydrocarbon degrading fungi with the aim of understanding how to exploit these microorganisms for the purpose of bioremediation of hydrocarbons derivatives from solid materials.
After considering a career in environmental biology, I decided to pursue my interest for human health, and I enrolled in the Molecular Biology and Genetics master’s degree in the same atheneum. In parallel, I also studied at the Biomedical Sciences class at the University School of Advanced Studies of Pavia (IUSS)….
I read Molecular Genetics at King’s College London at an undergraduate level followed by MRes degree in Biomedical Research specialising in Molecular Basis of Human Disease from Imperial College London. During my postgraduate course I explored the role of microRNAs in regulating pancreatic β-cell functions and contributed towards the generation of a model system for studying the impact of epigenetic changes on serotonin system in vitro.
I then joined Pan3DP Consortium as a research assistant. My primary role was to perform detailed structural characterisation of developing murine pancreas, as well as bioprinted pancreatic organoids using 3D lightsheet microscopy.
