Research Areas:

Lourdes is a biologist with a profound background in molecular biology. She started her research career at the University of Barcelona (Spain) where she received her MSc and PhD. After her postdoctoral studies at the University of Utah (USA) and further research work at the University of Portsmouth (UK), she was recruited at PHE’s (now UKHSA) CRCE in Cancer mechanism and biomarkers group as a Scientist.

As a Senior Radiation Protection Scientist, Lourdes is involved in projects focused on the role of ionizing radiation in leukemogenesis and the identification of new biomarkers of exposure. She is currently investigating the effect of confounding factors on transcriptional biomarkers, the different response of transcript variants to radiation and the modulation of radiation-induced leukemogenesis by extracellular vesicles.

Lourdes has taken on UKHSA’s research work on multi-institutional European and NIH funded projects focused on the identification of inflammation-associated genes as potential biomarkers of radiation exposure by using high throughput methods for gene expression analysis.