Biographical sketch
Maria Catalina Gomez-Puerto (1985) studied microbiology at Los Andes University in Bogota Colombia. After obtaining an Utrecht Excellence scholarship Catalina relocated to the Netherlands where she obtained a Master’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences at Utrecht University. During her Master's study, she performed internships in the Microbiology group at Utrecht University and at the Hubrecht Institute with Prof Niels Geijsen. In October 2011 she started her PhD in the Cell Growth & Differentiation Lab with Prof. P.J. Coffer. Here she studies the role of autophagy in hematopoietic stem cell functionality.
Research area
Autophagy is a highly regulated intracellular catabolic process that involves sequestration and lysosomal degradation of cytosolic components. It plays a role in the clearance of protein aggregates and damaged organelles, development, aging, cell death, tumor suppression, elimination of microorganism and antigen presentation. Surprisingly little is currently known concerning the role autophagy plays in the regulation of stem cell biology. The project is focused to characterize the function and molecular regulation of autophagy in normal CD34 hematopoietic stem cells.