• Question: What types of discoveries have you/your colleagues made?

    Asked by anon-251308 to Lorena on 22 Apr 2020.
    • Photo: Lorena Boquete Vilarino

      Lorena Boquete Vilarino answered on 22 Apr 2020:


      Thanks for your question! From the lab I where I work at the moment, my colleagues have found a protein which cells in our body release to tell the immune system that they shouldn’t be attacked. It looks from my research that the same protein can be released from cancer cells in high amounts so they can look like normal cells and hide from the immune system.
      In my previous lab my colleague and I discovered some genes which cancer cells can use to stop communication with the normal cells around them, so cancer cells can grow without being told to stop by their neighbours. I also discovered some genes which make people more likely to have type II diabetes, and some proteins which make insulin-making cells in the pancreas more resistant to stress.
      When I was doing my master’s degree I found that some people from the Isle of Man may be descendants of Viking women

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