People

 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Adriana Sánchez-Danés, PhD

Adriana Sánchez-Danés received her BSc degree in Biotechnology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). In 2012, she obtained her PhD in Biomedicine (cum laude distinction) from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Her thesis work focused on modeling Parkinson’s Disease in vitro. 

In 2012, Adriana moved to the Université Libre de Brussels to the laboratory of Prof. Cédric Blanpain (Belgium). During this period she investigated the most common human cancer, the basal cell carcinoma. Adriana identified the specific cell type from which this skin cancer arises and the cancer cell population that resists upon therapy, leading to tumor relapse. 

In October 2019, Adriana started her own lab at the Champalimaud Foundation as the ERA Chair Holder of the QuantOCancer Project https://quantocancer.fchampalimaud.org/  to uncover the biology of Pediatric solid tumours. Adriana has been recently awarded with the Maratona da Saude Junior Award and AstraZeneca awards.

SENIOR RESEARCHER

Patricia das Neves Borges, PhD 

Patrícia obtained her PhD in Bioengineering from Imperial College London in 2016. In February 2020, Patrícia joined our lab as senior researcher to uncover the mechanisms that drive initation, progression and resistance to therapy in medulloblastoma.

 POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS

Sara Canato, PhD

Sara Canato held her PhD in 2018 by University of Lisbon. Then she started her postdoctoral work in Porto at i3S. Sara joined our laboratory as postdoctoral researcher in June 2021 and aims at uncovering the mechanisms that drive skin cancer initiation. 



Ana Lúcia Rebelo, PhD

Ana Lúcia obtained her PhD from the National University of Ireland Galway in Biomedical Engineering with focus on neuroscience (2021). Ana Lúcia joined our laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in March 2022. Her project is focused on the mechanisms behind tumor initiation and progression in medulloblastoma.

Ana Raquel Tomás, PhD


Raquel obtained her PhD in Biomedicine from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain) in 2011. As of February 2020, Raquel is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Sanchéz-Danes Lab where her project focuses on dissecting tumour heterogeneity using state-of-the-art molecular tools in

combination with genetic mouse models. 



 LAB MANAGER

Raquel Soares, MSc

Raquel graduated in Biology in 2017 at the University of Lisbon and obtained her Master’s degree in Molecular Genetics and Biomedicine from the NOVA University of Lisbon in 2019. She joined the Sánchez-Danés Lab in February 2020 to provide support to the different projects of the lab.

 PHD STUDENTS

Ana Sofia Marques, MSc

Sofia obtained her BSc in Biochemistry in 2017 and then a MSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics in 2019, both at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. Sofia joined our laboratory as a PhD student in September 2020. Sofia aims at uncovering the differences/similarities in pediatric and adult melanoma formation and progression.

Sara Ferreira, MSc

Sara Ferreira obtained her MSc from University of Porto, in the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar in 2019. She joined our laboratory as a PhD Student in April 2022 to uncover the mechanisms involved in neuroblastoma progression and resistance to therapy.

Angelina Sanderson, MSc

Angelina Sanderson obtained her MSc in Clinical Neuroscience at UCL, Queen Square Institute of Neurology in 2020. She joined our laboratory in May 2023 as a PhD student to uncover the mechanisms that drive medulloblastoma initiation and progression. 

Adrianna Bielowka, MSc

Adrianna obtained her MSc in Imperial College London in 2019. She joined our laboratory in February 2024 as a PhD student to uncover the mechanisms that drive neuroblasoma initiation and progression. 

 MASTER STUDENTS

Maria Ana Pacheco

Maria obtained her Bachelor's degree in Cell Molecular Biology from the Nova University of Lisbon in 2021. She started her Master's degree in Biomedical Research at Nova Medical School. Maria joined our laboratory as a Master's Student in September 2022.

ALUMNI

Andrea Castañeda, Master Student

Erik Soeiro Cardoso, Master Student 

 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 810653