ainhoa-romo

Ainhoa earned her degree in Biotechnology from the University of the Basque Country in 2021. During her undergraduate studies, she completed two research internships—one funded by the Basque Government’s Ikasiker fellowship—where she gained valuable laboratory experience. She later pursued an MSc in Microbiology at the Autonomous University of Madrid (2022), joining the Laboratory of Intracellular Pathogens at the Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC) through a JAE Intro scholarship. There, she worked on the phenotypic characterization of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella enterica isolates, strengthening her expertise in microbial genetics, immunological assays, and protein biochemistry.

Before starting her PhD, she gained industry experience in an R&D laboratory within the food biotechnology sector. In 2024, she began her PhD in Caffarel’s lab with a predoctoral fellowship from the Basque Government. Her research focuses on how Oncostatin M cytokine signaling reshapes the immune microenvironment of breast tumors. She has presented her work at international conferences and is currently undertaking a research stay at Jose M. Adrover’s laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute (London, UK).

With a multidisciplinary background across academia and industry, Ainhoa brings a broad, interdisciplinary perspective to her research. She is committed to advancing the understanding of immune mechanisms in tumor progression to support the development of more effective breast cancer therapies. Outside the lab, she enjoys hiking, running, and learning French.