Mafalda Almeida

Mafalda is from Viseu, Portugal. She completed her BSc in Biology in 2008 at the University of Porto. She had her first lab experience while working towards her Masters degree in Molecular Oncology, researching the use of epigenetic changes (namely, gene promoter DNA methylation) as a biomarker for early detection of prostate cancer.

Still in Porto, she enrolled in the GABBA program (Graduate Program in Areas of Basic and Applied Biology) and later came to pursue her PhD studies in Neil’s lab in Oxford. She was the fifth in the lineage of Portuguese students in Neil’s lab and she carried on with the tradition of Portuguese students working on Polycomb. Her thesis focused in understanding how Polycomb complexes are recruited to the inactive X chromosome and she pinpointed PCGF3/5-PRC1 as crucial for Polycomb-mediated silencing cascade on the Xi. She returned to the lab in 2018 after a year off, and she is now a postdoc working on chromatin modifying complexes involved in X chromosome inactivation.

Mafalda enjoys travelling, going to concerts and sport events and spending a good time with friends over dinner or drinks.