Alexandra Avgustinova
Research group
Alexandra Avgustinova graduated with a BA in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford (Oxford, UK) in 2005. She undertook her PhD under the mentorship of Prof. Clare Isacke at the Institute of Cancer Research (London, UK) studying the role of the tumour stroma in breast cancer progression. In 2013 she joined the laboratory of Dr. Salvador Aznar Benitah at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (Barcelona, Spain) as a postdoctoral fellow to investigate the repercussions of deregulated chromatin accessibility on development and disease. Since 2020 she leads the Paediatric Tumour Epigenetics Group at the Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu.
As leader of the Paediatric Tumour Epigenetics Group, Dr. Avgustinova aims to elucidate how epigenetic parameters impact developmental tumour biology, and how epigenetic targeting can be used in the clinic to synergise with established standard- of-care treatments.
Specifically, her group addresses (1) how epigenetic alterations can cause malignant transformation; (2) whether epigenetic deregulation alters the evolutionary potential of tumours by impacting their mutation rate; and (3) how the epigenomic landscape of the tumour influences the patient’s anti-tumour immune response by altering tumour cell immunogenicity.
ResearchGate Last Publications
- Avgustinova A, Laudanna C, Pascual-García M, Rovira Q, Djurec M, Castellanos A, Urdiroz-Urricelqui U, Marchese D, Prats N, Van Keymeulen A, Heyn H, Vaquerizas JM and Benitah SA Repression of endogenous retroviruses prevents antiviral immune response and is required for mammary gland development. Cell stem cell . 28(10): .
- Avgustinova A, Symeonidi A, Castellanos A, Urdiroz-Urricelqui U, Solé-Boldo L, Martín M, Pérez-Rodríguez I, Prats N, Lehner B, Supek F and Benitah SA Loss of G9a preserves mutation patterns but increases chromatin accessibility, genomic instability and aggressiveness in skin tumours. NAT CELL BIOL . 20(12): 1400-1409.
- Li H, Yao Q, Mariscal AG, Wu X, Hülse J, Pedersen E, Helin K, Waisman A, Vinkel C, Thomsen SF, Avgustinova A, Benitah SA, Lovato P, Norsgaard H, Mortensen MS, Veng L, Rozell B and Brakebusch C Epigenetic control of IL-23 expression in keratinocytes is important for chronic skin inflammation. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS . 9(1): 1420-1420.
Projects
- Project name:
- El epigenoma malvado de los tumores rabdoides - definir para tratar.
- Leader
- Alexandra Avgustinova
- Funding entities:
- Ministerio de Economía Y Competitividad (MINECO)
- Code
- PID2020-118241RA-I00
- Starting - finishing date:
- 2021 - 2024
- Project name:
- Ayudas para contratos Ramón y Cajal (RYC) 2019. Beneficiario: Alexandra Avgustinova
- Leader
- Alexandra Avgustinova
- Funding entities:
- Ministerio de Economía Y Competitividad (MINECO)
- Code
- RYC2019-027738-I
- Starting - finishing date:
- 2020 - 2025