Petrova Lab members

Research interest

As a lab technician I am in charge of maintaining the laboratory’s animal colonies and their genotyping. I also perform immunostaining of tissue sections and ELISA immunoassays.

Background

I obtained a CFC from Biokema, Lausanne as laboratory technician in biology in 1999. I worked in Pr Pedro Romero’s laboratory in the Department of oncology from 2000 to 2011, and joined Pr Tatiana Petrova’s laboratory in 2012.

Senior research associate CONTACT ME

Research interest 

I work on mechanisms of blood and lymphatic vessel patterning and function in the normal intestine and colorectal cancer.

Background

• PhD- University of Lausanne, Switzerland
• MSc- Oregon State University, USA
• BS- University of Oregon, USA

MD PhD student CONTACT ME

Research interest 

I am working on characterizing the microenvironment of colorectal cancer and its responses to therapies. 

Background

I obtained my medical degree from the University of Lausanne in 2020. Guided by my interest in fundamental research in oncology, I joined the laboratory of Pr Tatiana Petrova as an MD-PhD student in 2021. I am a recipient of Swiss National foundation MD-PhD fellowship.

PhD student CONTACT ME

Research interest 

I am interested in the mechanisms of mechanosensing by lymphatic endothelial cells. Previous work from the lab has shown that lymphatics perceive and interpret biomechanical signals differently from blood vessels. My goal is to understand the molecular basis of such differences. 

Background

I received my master's degree from China Pharmaceutical University, where I studied the role of EMT transcription factor Snail1 in angiogenesis and the role of Zeb1 in angiogenesis-dependent bone formation. I joined the Petrova lab in 2021.

PhD student CONTACT ME

Research interest 

My thesis project focused on protein degradation in lung cancer as a therapeutic approach. As a PhD student I currently work on the crosstalk of endothelial cells and the perivascular niche in adipose tissue.

Background

I received my Master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Applied Sciences Vienna. I joined the laboratory of Pr Tatiana Petrova in 2021.

PhD student CONTACT ME

Research interest 

Our research focuses on understanding the tumor microenvironment and how therapy affects the different stromal cells in context of colorectal cancer.

Background

I undertook my studies at the Lebanese University, Beirut. I hold a Master’s in Genomics and Health, for which I did the practical work in Montpellier, mainly focusing on gene expression regulation in the context of breast cancer. I joined Pr Tatiana Petrova’s laboratory in 2019 to do my PhD.

Postdoctoral researcher CONTACT ME

Research interest 

My research focuses on developing new immunotherapies for treating solid tumors.
 

Background

I did my bachelor’s in Cell and Molecular biology in Mashhad, Iran. During this time, I worked at the Pasteur Institute of Tehran, where I developed a gene delivery system using Virosome technology. I completed my Master's in Cell Biology at the University of British Columbia, Canada, with a focus on the signaling pathways regulating mitophagy. I did my PhD at EPFL where I developed a novel cancer therapy based on dendritic cells, designing a chimeric antigen receptor that enables dendritic cells to specifically target tumor cells.

Laboratory Manager & Technician CONTACT ME

Research interest 

As a lab manager, I perform a wide range of duties and tasks related to overseeing the operations of the laboratory. I am responsible for the inventory monitoring and supplies ordering, as well as the equipment maintenance. As a technician, I work on different vascular biology experiments and projects.

Background

I graduated as a Pharmacy and Laboratory Technician (CFC) in 2008 and pursued Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies at the University of Parma. Early in my career, I worked at the warehouse of the Department of Oncology and Immunobiology at UNIL, Epalinges. Later, I joined Prof. Margot Thome-Miazza's lab as a technician, focusing on lymphocyte signaling pathways. In September 2024, I became the lab manager and research technician for Prof. Petrova's group.

Postdoctoral fellow CONTACT ME

Research interest 

My research interests lie in the field of tumor metabolism. I am particularly interested in investigating metabolic signalling in blood and lymphatic endothelial cells during normal and pathological vessel expansion.

Background

I have worked in the cancer metabolomics field for over 8 years. During this time, I have performed LC-MS based metabolomics to characterize the metabolism of normal and cancer cells, and have used computational tools to analyze metabolomics data, and molecular and cell biology approaches to validate findings. In some of these studies, I have mapped metabolism in different cell cycle phases, and normal vs cancer cells to identify enzymes that can make cancer cells vulnerable to targeting. Among the interesting enzymes selected from these studies, I have followed-up on Arginase II (ARG2), which is a potential vulnerability for triple negative breast cancer cells. I have also worked with custom cell culture medium, and I have done some work to develop a plasma-like medium to grow cells in physiological-like conditions.

Postdoctoral fellow CONTACT ME

Research interest 

My current research focuses on understanding the plasticity of the vascular system in the maternal gastrointestinal tract during pregnancy. This project aims to characterize the physiological adaptation undergone by the maternal lymphatics to support the increasing nutritional demands, to elucidate the signals fine-tuning this process, and to investigate the association with pregnancy-disorders.

Background

I obtained my PhD in Women’s and Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford (Oxon. 2019), after completing the MSc in Clinical Embryology (2015) also at Oxon., as well as the BSc in Biochemistry (2014) and the Dip. Research Training Program in Biochemistry (2014) at The University of Navarra. During my PhD, I studied the role of seminal fluid extracellular vesicles in human endometrial receptivity and was awarded the Rafael del Pino Postgraduate Scholarship (Rafael del Pino Foundation, Spain) and the Gustav Born Scholarship in Biomedical Sciences (St Peter’s College, Oxon).

I then did a short postdoc with Dr Christina Aye (Oxon.) to work on the OxWATCH project, a cohort study aiming to understand the effect of maternal health before and during pregnancy in the development of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Afterwards, I joined Prof Sarah de Val’s group (Oxon.) as a postdoctoral research scientist to study the role of NFAT transcription factors and their cognate enhancers during transcriptional regulation of arteriovenous patterning. Alongside this post, I was awarded the Junior Research Fellowship at Kellogg College (Oxon.) and the COVID-19 Rebuilding Research Momentum Fund (John Fell Fund, Oxon.)

I recently joined Prof Tatiana Petrova’s group (2023) as an SNSF Postdoctoral Fellow, and I remain affiliated to The University of Oxford and Kellogg College (Oxon.) as Visiting Fellow.

Senior research associate CONTACT ME

Research interest 

My general research interests are in vascular biology and, in particular, endothelial cells, understanding their adaptation to different organ functions and their dysfunction in pathological conditions.

Background

I graduated in 2004 with a Master’s in Molecular and Cellular Biology, and obtained my PhD at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Lyon, France) in 2008 in endothelial cell biology. I joined Pr Tatiana Petrova’s laboratory in 2009 to do a postdoc on lymphatic vessels. I now pursue my scientific journey, in blood and lymphatic vessels, as a senior scientist.

Bioinformatician CONTACT ME

Research interest 

I analyse bioinformatics data generated by the members of the Petrova Lab.

Background

I originally trained as a plant and molecular biologist at the University of Lausanne. I went on to do a PhD at the University of Miami about the interactions between pines and mycorrhizal fungi, by running field experiments under the hot Florida sun in the USA. Back in Switzerland, but this time in the wet lab, I held a postdoc position investigating the genetics of fungi and learned to analyze data generated by next generation sequencing techniques. I enjoyed learning about bioinformatics so much that a new career path opened up.