{"id":11,"date":"2014-06-01T14:52:03","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T12:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/?page_id=11"},"modified":"2023-09-12T23:24:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T21:24:17","slug":"people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/people\/","title":{"rendered":"People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Scroll below to find out&nbsp;more about us, what we do, like and where do we come from. Or if you are interested in knowing what people from the lab went on to do, see <a href=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/alumni\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"819\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_-1024x819.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-810\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_-768x615.jpg 768w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_-2048x1639.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_-624x499.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><a title=\"Juanma Vaquerizas\" href=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/people\/juanma-vaquerizas\/\">Juanma Vaquerizas<\/a> | Group Leader<br><a href=\"#Srishti\">Srishti Arya<\/a> | PhD Student<br><a href=\"#Irina\">Irina Balaguer<\/a> | PhD Student<br><a href=\"#Jahnavi\">Jahnavi Bhaskaran<\/a> | PhD Student<br><a href=\"#Melanie\">Melanie Chan<\/a> | Post-Doc, Post CCT Research Fellow<br><a href=\"#Fabian\">Fabian Groll<\/a> | PhD Student<br><a href=\"#Benjamin\">Benjam\u00edn Hern\u00e1ndez-Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> | Postdoctoral Fellow<br><a href=\"#Liz\">Liz Ing-Simmons<\/a> | Postdoctoral Fellow<br><a href=\"#Christos\">Christos Kalaitzis<\/a> | PhD Student (joint with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lms.mrc.ac.uk\/research-group\/development-and-transcriptional-control\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Metzis lab<\/a>)<br><a href=\"#SaraLl\">Sara Llorente Armijo<\/a> | PhD Student<br><a href=\"#Paul-Georg\">Paul-Georg Majev<\/a> | PhD Student (joint with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mpi-muenster.mpg.de\/96841\/adams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adams lab<\/a>)<br><a href=\"#Noura\">Noura Maziak<\/a> | PhD Student<br><a href=\"#Maria\">Maria Rigau<\/a> | Postdoctoral Fellow<br><a href=\"#Quirze\">Quirze Rovira<\/a> | Postdoctoral Fellow<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-web-small-200724.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-web-small-200724.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-812\" style=\"width:217px;height:273px\" width=\"217\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-web-small-200724.png 706w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-web-small-200724-238x300.png 238w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-web-small-200724-624x787.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Juanma Vaquerizas&nbsp;<\/strong>| [email]j.vaquerizas@lms.mrc.ac.uk[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vaquerizasjm\">Follow @vaquerizasjm<\/a><script><\/script><br>Juanma (Spanish short form for&nbsp;\u2018Juan Manuel\u2019) studied Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.uam.es\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Madrid<\/a>, Spain. He received his PhD from the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnio.es\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spanish National Cancer Centre<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.uam.es\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Madrid<\/a>&nbsp;(2008) where he worked on the&nbsp;characterisation of the human transcription factor repertoire&nbsp;(Vaquerizas et al.,&nbsp;2009). Juanma trained as a postdoctoral fellow with&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.luscombelab.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prof. Nick Luscombe<\/a>&nbsp;at the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EMBL \u2013 European Bioinformatics Institute<\/a>&nbsp;in Cambridge, UK. Here, in&nbsp;collaboration with&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de\/akhtar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asifa Akhtar<\/a>\u2019s laboratory he focused on the study of the&nbsp;dosage compensation mechanism in&nbsp;<em>Drosophila melanogaster<\/em>&nbsp;(Kind et al., 2008;&nbsp;Vaquerizas et al., 2010; Conrad et al., 2012). Since 2012, Juanma is a Max Planck Research Group&nbsp;Leader at the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mpi-muenster.mpg.de\/2377\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MPI in Muenster<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of science, Juanma also enjoys rowing, cycling, tech-stuff and playing the&nbsp;guitar with his band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"Jahnavi\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"254\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Jahnavi-Bhaskaran-web-1-254x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Jahnavi-Bhaskaran-web-1-254x300.jpg 254w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Jahnavi-Bhaskaran-web-1-768x908.jpg 768w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Jahnavi-Bhaskaran-web-1-624x738.jpg 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Jahnavi-Bhaskaran-web-1.jpg 793w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Jahnavi Bhaskaran<\/strong> | [email]j.bhaskaran21@lms.mrc.ac.uk[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jahnavi_bhask\">Follow @jahnavi_bhask<\/a><script><\/script><br>Jahnavi completed her Bachelor\u2019s in Biotechnology in India and her Master\u2019s in Biology at <a href=\"https:\/\/ethz.ch\/en.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ETH Zurich<\/a>.&nbsp; She was first introduced to computational biology in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baubeclab.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tuncay Baubec\u2019s lab<\/a> &nbsp;at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uzh.ch\/de.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">University of Zurich<\/a>&nbsp;where she was studying DNA methylation in cancer. During her PhD, she plans to combine her new-found interest in high-dimensional data with her longstanding interest in cancer biology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jahnavi enjoys Carnatic music, Bollywood dance and most importantly, Pongal-Sambar with a lot of ghee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cTo confront cancer is to encounter a parallel species, one perhaps more adapted to survival than even we are.\u201d<\/em> &#8211; The Emperor of All Maladies<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"Melanie\"><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_5757.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_5757-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-829\" style=\"width:235px;height:235px\" width=\"235\" height=\"235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_5757-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_5757-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_5757-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_5757-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_5757-624x624.png 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_5757.png 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 235px) 100vw, 235px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Melanie Chan<\/strong> | [email]m.chan@imperial.ac.uk[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/drmelaniechan\">Follow @drmelaniechan<\/a><script><\/script><br>Melanie studied medicine at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cam.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">University of Cambridge<\/a>, UK and trained to be a kidney doctor in London where she developed a clinical and research interest in inherited kidney disease and developmental abnormalities of the kidneys and urinary tract. During her PhD at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucl.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UCL<\/a> she used large-scale whole genome sequencing data to gain novel insights into the underlying genomic architecture of urinary tract malformations. She was awarded the <a href=\"https:\/\/ukkidney.org\/health-professionals\/education-development\/awards-and-bursaries\/raine-award\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2023 UK Kidney Association Raine Award<\/a> for her contribution to kidney research as a junior investigator. She joined the lab in September 2023 to investigate the gene-regulatory networks important for lower urinary tract development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When not chasing around after two small people, Melanie enjoys reading and tennis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"Fabian\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Fabian-Groll-web-300x296.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Fabian-Groll-web-300x296.jpg 300w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Fabian-Groll-web-624x615.jpg 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Fabian-Groll-web.jpg 687w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Fabian Groll<\/strong> | [email]f.groll@lms.mrc.ac.uk[\/email]<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fabian studied biology at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rwth-aachen.de\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RWTH Aachen university<\/a>, where he specialised in cellular and molecular biology. During his masters thesis, Fabian examined the role of the Notch-3 receptor in autoimmune diseases. After joining the lab as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uni-muenster.de\/CiM-IMPRS\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CiM-IMPRS graduate program<\/a> in 2018, Fabian will focus on examining zygotic genome activation during early embryogenesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fabian likes computers, sport and learning new things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"Benjamin\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"271\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Ben-Hernandez-Rodriguez-web-271x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-651\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Ben-Hernandez-Rodriguez-web-271x300.jpg 271w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Ben-Hernandez-Rodriguez-web-768x849.jpg 768w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Ben-Hernandez-Rodriguez-web-624x690.jpg 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Ben-Hernandez-Rodriguez-web.jpg 812w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 271px) 100vw, 271px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Benjam\u00edn Hern\u00e1ndez Rodr\u00edguez&nbsp;<\/strong>| [email]benjamin.hernandez-rodriguez@mpi-muenster.mpg.de[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bhernanr\">Follow @bhernanr<\/a><script><\/script> <br>ORCiD: <a href=\"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5118-8715\">https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5118-8715<\/a> <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Benjam\u00edn studied genomic sciences at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lcg.unam.mx\/\">National Autonomous University in Mexico<\/a>. He joined the Vaquerizas lab at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mpi-muenster.mpg.de\/107228\/team\">Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine<\/a>  first as an undergraduate student and then as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.birmingham.ac.uk\/generic\/zencode-itn\/index.aspx\">ZENCODE-ITN<\/a> PhD student studying the evolution of 3D genome organisation. Benjamin defended his PhD thesis in June 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.714285714; font-size: 1rem;\"><span style=\"color: #222222;\">It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds [&#8230;] However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.<\/span><br><br><span style=\"color: #222222;\">Benjam\u00edn likes books, surfing&#8230; the www&nbsp;and daydreaming.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"Liz\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Elizabeth-Ing-Simmons-web-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Elizabeth-Ing-Simmons-web-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Elizabeth-Ing-Simmons-web-624x811.jpg 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Elizabeth-Ing-Simmons-web.jpg 759w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Liz Ing-Simmons&nbsp;<\/strong>| [email]liz.ing-simmons@lms.mrc.ac.uk[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liz__is\">Follow @liz__is<\/a><script><\/script><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Liz studied Natural Sciences at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cam.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">University of Cambridge<\/a>, UK, and then did a Masters in Systems Biology at the same university, during which she was introduced to the power of computational biology. During her PhD at the <a href=\"http:\/\/csc.mrc.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MRC Clinical Sciences Centre<\/a> (now MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences), Liz investigated the role of the cohesin complex in genome organisation and its effects on gene regulation by enhancers. She joined the lab in March 2017 to work on genome organisation in Drosophila.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Liz likes R, reproducibility, cooking, and tea. When not thinking about science she is probably thinking about food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"Christos\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Christos.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Christos-957x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-835\" style=\"width:266px;height:284px\" width=\"266\" height=\"284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Christos-957x1024.png 957w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Christos-280x300.png 280w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Christos-768x822.png 768w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Christos-1435x1536.png 1435w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Christos-624x668.png 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Christos.png 1910w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 266px) 100vw, 266px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Christos Kalaitzis&nbsp;<\/strong>| [email]christos.kalaitzis19@imperial.ac.uk[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChristosKltzs\">Follow @ChristosKltzs<\/a><script><\/script><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christos obtained a BSc (Hons) in Genetics from the University of Sussex in 2019. He completed an MSc in Human Molecular Genetics at Imperial College London in 2020, where his final project in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.crick.ac.uk\/research\/labs\/robin-lovell-badge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lovell-Badge lab<\/a>&nbsp;at the Francis Crick Institute focused on the transcription factor FOXL2 in craniofacial development and adult&nbsp;pituitary&nbsp;hormonal lineage specification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Staying at the Crick, Christos then worked as a Laboratory Research Officer with the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/briscoelab.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Briscoe lab<\/a>, where he studied the molecular mechanisms of how cis regulatory elements work to direct gene expression in the developing spinal cord.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2022, Christos joined the <a href=\"https:\/\/lms.mrc.ac.uk\/research-group\/development-and-transcriptional-control\/\">Metzis lab<\/a> in collaboration with the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaquerizaslab.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vaquerizas<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/people\/s.di-giovanni\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Di Giovanni<\/a>&nbsp; labs at Imperial College London as a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/lms.mrc.ac.uk\/samurii-phd-studentships-open-for-applications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SAMURII PhD student<\/a>, focusing on spinal cord injury repair mechanisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"SaraLl\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"264\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Sara-Llorente-Armijo-Web-1-264x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Sara-Llorente-Armijo-Web-1-264x300.jpg 264w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Sara-Llorente-Armijo-Web-1-624x708.jpg 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Sara-Llorente-Armijo-Web-1.jpg 754w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 264px) 100vw, 264px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Sara Llorente Armijo&nbsp;<\/strong>| [email]s.llorente-armijo20@lms.mrc.ac.uk[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LlorenteArmijo\">Follow @LlorenteArmijo<\/a><script><\/script><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"post-message__text\">Sara studied Health Biology at the <a class=\"theme markdown__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uah.es\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Universidad de Alcal\u00e1 (UAH)<\/a>, Spain. During her bachelor\u2019s final project and a couple of summer fellowships she discovered the power of bioinformatics. After working at the group of Dr. Miguel Manzanares in the <a class=\"theme markdown__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnic.es\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC)<\/a>, where she studied the gene expression variability of cardiovascular disease, she went to Sweden to study a MSc in Bioinformatics at <a class=\"theme markdown__link\" href=\"https:\/\/lunduniversity.lu.se\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lund University<\/a>. She is currently doing her Master\u2019s final project at the Vaquerizas lab where she is studying the chromatin architecture in <em>Xenopus<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"post-message__text\">Sara dances hip hop and contemporary. She also likes hiking, exploring cities and cooking.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"Paul-Georg\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"284\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Paul-Georg-Majev-web-284x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Paul-Georg-Majev-web-284x300.jpg 284w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Paul-Georg-Majev-web-624x659.jpg 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Paul-Georg-Majev-web.jpg 702w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 284px) 100vw, 284px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Paul-Georg Majev&nbsp;<\/strong>| [email]paul-georg.majev@mpi-muenster.mpg.de[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PGREKM\" data-show-count=\"false\">Follow @PGREKM<\/a><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br>Paul-Georg studied Biology in Hamburg and Freiburg. During his Master\u2019s Thesis in Wolfgang Hess\u2019 Lab at the University of Freiburg he investigated the interactions of the two ncRNAs Yfr22 and Yfr23 in Picocyanobacteria. Leaving the oceans behind, Paul-Georg joined the Department of Tissue Morphogenesis, headed by Ralf Adams, at the MPI in Muenster to examine how vascular cells in mouse long bones interact with other cells in the surrounding tissue and may mediate bone growth and maintenance. In this undertaking Paul-Georg proudly resides at and is co-supervised by the Vaquerizas Lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If he is not sitting behind a computer screen for work, Paul-Georg is often found sitting behind a computer screen just for fun. If he is not there, he is probably ballroom dancing, going to the opera or just enjoying nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"Maria\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MR_photo_bio-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-756\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MR_photo_bio-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MR_photo_bio-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MR_photo_bio-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MR_photo_bio-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MR_photo_bio-624x832.jpg 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/MR_photo_bio-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Maria Rigau<\/strong>&nbsp;| [email]m.rigau@lms.mrc.ac.uk[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" data-show-count=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/M_Rigau\">Follow @M_Rigau<\/a><script><\/script><br><br>Maria studied Human Biology at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upf.edu\/\">Universitat Pompeu Fabra<\/a> and completed her Master\u2019s in Biomedical Research at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ub.edu\/\">Universitat de Barcelona<\/a>, Spain. After doing internships in the Genetics Departments of both universities, she worked for a year at the <a href=\"https:\/\/trauma.lbg.ac.at\/en\">Tissue Engineering laboratory<\/a> in Linz, Austria. After that, she started a computational biology PhD at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnio.es\/\">Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO)<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uam.es\/ss\/Satellite\/en\/home.htm\">Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Madrid<\/a>, where she studied the functional impact of structural variants and their evolutionary implications. She finished her PhD in 2019 and joined the lab in March 2020, with the aim of studying the regulatory role of transposable elements in early human development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maria likes travelling, eating and spending time with her friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"Quirze\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"253\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Quirze-Rovira-web-2-253x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Quirze-Rovira-web-2-253x300.jpg 253w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Quirze-Rovira-web-2-624x741.jpg 624w, https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Quirze-Rovira-web-2.jpg 637w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 253px) 100vw, 253px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Quirze Rovira<\/strong>&nbsp;| [email]quirze.rovira-castella@mpi-muenster.mpg.de[\/email]<br><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/quirze92\" data-show-count=\"false\">Follow @quirze92<\/a><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br><br>Quirze did his Bachelor in Biology at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.udg.edu\/\">University of Girona<\/a>. During his Bachelor thesis, he started studying transposable elements (TEs) in the Gonzalez Lab at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibe.upf-csic.es\/\">Institute of Evolutionary Biology<\/a> (IBE-CSIC-UPF). Quirze then&nbsp;pursued a&nbsp;MSc in Bioinformatics at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uab.cat\/\">Autonomous University of Barcelona<\/a> and joined Manuel Irimia&#8217;s lab at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crg.eu\/\">Center for Genomic Regulation<\/a> (CRG) to study the role of TEs in the regulation of alternative splicing during early development stages of mammalian genomes. As part of&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.birmingham.ac.uk\/generic\/zencode-itn\/index.aspx\">ZENCODE-ITN<\/a>&nbsp;Quirze will investigate the regulation and expression of TEs in Zebrafish, particularly interested in the developmental stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nothing in bioinformatics makes sense except in the light of biology.<br>Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.<br>Nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of DNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quirze loves playing Ultimate Frisbee, explore the wild and travel to new places.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scroll below to find out&nbsp;more about us, what we do, like and where do we come from. Or if you are interested in knowing what people from the lab went on to do, see here. Juanma Vaquerizas | Group LeaderSrishti Arya | PhD StudentIrina Balaguer | PhD StudentJahnavi Bhaskaran | PhD StudentMelanie Chan | Post-Doc, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"People - Vaquerizas Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scroll below to find out&nbsp;more about us, what we do, like and where do we come from. Or if you are interested in knowing what people from the lab went on to do, see here. Juanma Vaquerizas | Group LeaderSrishti Arya | PhD StudentIrina Balaguer | PhD StudentJahnavi Bhaskaran | PhD StudentMelanie Chan | Post-Doc, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vaquerizas Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-12T21:24:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_-1024x819.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@vaquerizas_lab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@vaquerizas_lab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Vaquerizas Laboratory\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/vaquerizasjm\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vaquerizas_lab\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/vaquerizaslab_sqsq.png\",\"width\":1316,\"height\":1321,\"caption\":\"Vaquerizas Laboratory\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/\",\"name\":\"Vaquerizas Lab\",\"description\":\"Developmental Epigenomics group @ MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences | Imperial College London\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/people\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Vaquerizas-lab-PXL_20230516_085251873.MP2_.jpg\",\"width\":2342,\"height\":1874},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/people\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/people\/\",\"name\":\"People - Vaquerizas Lab\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/people\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-01T12:52:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-12T21:24:17+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/people\/\"]}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":110,"href":"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":838,"href":"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions\/838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vaquerizaslab.org\/dev22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}