Overview
In the last two years I have been working as a Research Associate scientist at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH), the primary research partner of Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the largest paediatric centre in Europe dedicated to both clinical and basic scientific research. I have more than 14 years’ laboratory experience in the immunology field with a wide expertise in basic research as well as diagnostics of Primary immune deficiencies.
I began my academic career at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), where I completed a BSc Hons in Biology in 2007. Thereafter, I got a position also at the Central University of Venezuela as a Research & Teaching assistant in Biochemistry, where I worked for about 6 months before being awarded with a scholarship for my PhD in Italy, where I moved in 2008.
I quickly completed my PhD in Immunology and Applied Biotechnology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata in “Common Variable Immune deficiency in Infancy” (2012). During my PhD I received a Short-term fellowship from the European Society for Immune deficiencies (ESID), so I spent three months at the Royal Free Hospital & University College London where I enriched my PhD data and knowledge on Primary Immune deficiencies (PID).
My first Post-doc fellowship was at the University of Rome La Sapienza, which is one of the top leading research Universities in Italy. There, I investigated the role of dendritic cells in the presentation of tumour-derived antigens and the changes induced by Stem Cell Factor (SCF) in both presentation to T cells and peptide generation. I also studied the role of molecular mediators affecting both angiogenesis and CD8 T cell responses.