Since I was young, I have been interested in the biomedical field. Probably because I had the luck to be born in a house of extremely hard-working scientists, which captivated me. I got my degree in Biology with a minor in Molecular Biology after completing my thesis in Corominas Lab, which involved the study of lncRNAs in Drosophila development. Afterwards I did my master’s in biomedical sciences within the track Experimental Internal Medicine at the University of Amsterdam. During this time, I had the pleasure of doing my first internship at Menno de Winther’s group, where I screened several small molecule compounds to alter the expression of transposable elements and characterize the resulting effects on macrophages. My second internship was within Vincent Christoffels and Geert Boink group, where I committed to optimize promoter strength and specificity for AAV cardiac gene therapy.
After having a great time in Amsterdam and gaining experience in the field cardiovascular diseases, I joined Seppo Ylä-Herttuala’s group in the A.I Virtanen Institute. Here I will pursue my PhD, by focusing on the identification of novel therapeutic targets to mitigate inflammation in the cardiovascular system as well as the progression of cardiometabolic diseases.

Outside of the lab I am someone who enjoys exercising, nature and walking around. I also enjoy roll games such as DnD, and challenging video games (pretty much anything from Hidetaka Miyazaki), which have taught me a very important lesson that can be applied to anything in day-to-day life: at the end, it is not about winning every time, it is about persevering and not giving up.