Alejandra González Loyola.

During my PhD in Prof. Marcos Malumbres’ lab (2010-2015) at one of leading centres for cancer research in the world, the CNIO, I obtained a particularly strong background on cell and molecular biology and animal models of cancer to carry my PhD project with ease (Development, 2011; Mol.Cell Biol, 2015, Nat.Med.,2017). For my postdoc I joined the lab of Prof.Tatiana Petrova, Switzerland who is internationally recognized for its key contributions in the field of vascular biology. This period gave me the knowledge and expertise on vascular biology, tumor microenvironment and cancer therapies (J. Clin. Invest.,2020; Sci. Adv., 2021; Adv.Drug.Deliv.Rev, 2020, EMBO J, 2021; Sci.Transl.Med., 2021). Particularly, my discovery on the important role that lymphatic vessels exert in coordinating the interactions between different organs to sustain adult homeostasis is an important contribution to the vascular biology field. Moreover, I have shown the organ-specific and systemic effects of dysfunctional lymphatics and I have observed for the first-time a crosstalk between lymphatic vascular function and commensal microbiota. These effects potentially contribute to the pathogenesis of diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, or lymphedema. Also, I have established the single-cell atlas of adult mesenteric lymphatic endothelial subtypes which is an extraordinary tool to exploit and to understand the molecular cues behind lymphatic endothelial cell functions. In a parallel project, I have identified that the transcription factor c-MAF is a novel regulator of intestinal villus zonation program (JEM, 2022). After obtaining a highly competitive, Maria Zambrano Returning Talent Fellowship, I work as Senior Scientist at the M2BE lab at I3A, University of Zaragoza, Spain. My research interest now is to understand how lymphatic vessels can be modulated to find therapeutic strategies for cancer patients.