Biographical Sketch
Ana Rita Lourenço (1987) studied Genetics and Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon and obtained a Master’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra. During her Master she performed an internship in the Molecular Immunology Lab with Prof. P.J. Coffer proceeding to her PhD in the same lab, in 2011. Here she studies the transcription factor SOX4.
Research Area
The SRY-related high mobility group (HMG) box transcription factor 4 (Sox4), part of the group C Sox transcription factors, is crucial for a proper embryonic development among vertebrates. Recently, Sox4 has been identified as 1 of 64 genes uniquely up-regulated in a general cancer signature. Despite the fact that there is a clear role in tumor-development and progression for this transcription factor in various cancers, very little is known about its regulation. The aim of this project is to study the role of SOX4 in tumorigenesis and cancer metastasis.