ANA RITA GROSSO

UCIBIO, FCT NOVA

Deciphering the mechanisms underlying cancer progression through multi-omics approaches

Chair: José Paulo Sampaio

Abstract

The development of high-throughput technologies and large international consortiums have generated a wealth of multi-omics data and increased our understanding of biological processes. However, we still miss the mechanisms underlying several diseases and strategies for their diagnosis, prevention and treatment.

Hence, we aim to decipher pathological conditions using multi-omics approaches, identifying molecular events to be further used as biomarkers and therapeutic targets. For the last years, we have integrated large-scale data to understand mechanisms regulating gene expression and to depict (epi)genetic events associated with aberrant transcription in cancer and increased intra-tumor heterogeneity. Here, I will present our past and current research, showing how interdisciplinary approaches can provide new insights into the oncobiology field.

Short Bio

Ana Rita Grosso gathered a Biology degree (FCUL), followed by a MSc in Bioinformatics (FCUL-IGC) and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences (FMUL, 2010). She is specialized in Computational Biology, with emphasis on multi-omics approaches, gene expression and oncobiology. After her Post-Doc in IMM, Ana Rita moved to UCIBIO/FCT-NOVA to stablish the research group Computational Multi-Omics. Their main mission is to unveil the complexity of cell biology and underlying dysregulation of diseases by deciphering multi-omics data. In parallel, Ana Rita has been teaching specialized MSc courses in Genomics and Computational Biology fields at FCUL, FMUL and FCT-NOVA. She is currently PI of two projects composed by interdisciplinary teams and co-partner in several multiple-institutional collaborative projects.