Dr Cristina Correia Antunes Pina
Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences
Heinz Wolff 229
- Email: cristina.correiaantunespina@brunel.ac.uk
- Tel: +44 (0)1895 266676
Summary
I am a clinically-trained research scientist working in the field of cancer epigenetics. I am fascinated by the mechanisms through which cells diversify their molecular composition, and consequently vary their morphology and their function, to make organs, regenerate tissues, and produce tumours. While some of those diversification mechanisms rely on genetic mutations, others explore the way in which cells read their genes to produce the RNA and proteins that underlie cell function. The latter are referred to as epigenetic mechanisms.
My research is focused on understanding and manipulating epigenetic mechanisms to alter cell identity, and in particular, it aims to probe their role in cancer evolution in an attempt to unveil new therapies.
Qualifications
Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy UK, 2020
DPhil Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, 2008
Medical Doctor, Full registration, Ordem dos Medicos Portuguesa, 2000
MBBS (Licenciatura em Medicina), University of Lisbon, 1998
Responsibility
I am a Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences with Research and Teaching responsibilities.
Newest selected publications
Ragusa, D., Cicirò, Y., Federico, C., Saccone, S., Bruno, F., Saeedi, R., et al. (2022) 'Engineered model of t(7;12)(q36;p13) AML recapitulates patient-specific features and gene expression profiles'. Oncogenesis, 11 (1). pp. 1 - 7. ISSN: 2157-9024 Open Access Link
Gupta, S., Dovey, OM., Domingues, AF., Cyran, OW., Cash, CM., Giotopoulos, G., et al. (2022) 'Transcriptional variability accelerates pre-leukemia by cell diversification and perturbation of protein synthesis'. Science advances, 8 (31). pp. 1 - 15. ISSN: 2375-2548 Open Access Link
Arede, L., Foerner, E., Wind, S., Kulkarni, R., Domingues, AF., Giotopoulos, G., et al. (2021) 'KAT2A complexes ATAC and SAGA play unique roles in cell maintenance and identity in hematopoiesis and leukemia'. Blood advances, 6 (1). pp. 165 - 180. ISSN: 2473-9529 Open Access Link
Arede, L. and Pina, C. (2020) 'Buffering noise: KAT2A modular contributions to stabilization of transcription and cell identity in cancer and development'. Experimental Hematology, 93. pp. 25 - 37. ISSN: 0301-472X Open Access Link
Domingues, AF., Kulkarni, R., Giotopoulos, G., Gupta, S., Vinnenberg, L., Arede, L., et al. (2020) 'Loss of Kat2a Enhances Transcriptional Noise and depletes Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Stem-like Cells'. eLife, 9. pp. 1 - 29. ISSN: 2050-084X Open Access Link