Dr Ana Bolhaqueiro

During my PhD at the Hubrecht Institute (Utrecht, Netherlands) in Geert Kops' lab, my research focused on Cancer Biology and Genomic Instability in patient-derived tumour organoids. I investigated molecular mechanisms driving chromosomal instability in colorectal cancer, using long-term live imaging of chromosome segregation and single-cell DNA sequencing in organoid cultures derived from both healthy and colorectal cancer patient tissues.

As a postdoctoral researcher in Jean-Paul Vincent Lab at the Francis Crick Institute, I studied how the JNK stress pathway triggers seemingly opposite cell behaviours such as cell death, proliferation and cell cycle arrest. Using fruit flies as a model organism, I investigated the dynamic stress-related signalling that governs cell fate decisions and tissue repair. In 2020, I was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship to support this research. Additionally, I was actively involved in teaching undergraduate students at University College London (UCL) and King's College London, which shaped my career direction.

In December 2024, I joined Kingston University as a Lecturer in Biochemistry.

• Postdoctoral Researcher at the Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom (2020-2024)
• Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2022)
• PhD University of Utrecht / Hubrecht Institute, the Netherlands (2014-2019)
• MSc Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Coimbra, Portugal (2012-2014)
• BSc (Hons) Biochemistry, University of Coimbra, Portugal (2009-2012)