Natalia is passionate about RNA biology. She received her BSc (Honours) in Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh. Natalia did her PhD in Biochemistry in the University of Cambridge. She studied the mechanisms of alternative RNA splicing in the lab of Chris Smith, identifying regulatory sequences and proteins involved in this process. Natalia was supported by a full scholarship from the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh during her BSc and PhD studies.
In 2002 Natalia has moved to Oxford to start her Post-Doctoral work with Nick Proudfoot, where she got interested in connections between mRNA processing and transcription. During this period she discovered the mechanism of transcriptional termination (Nature 2004) and post-translational hydroxylation of U2AF65 splicing factor (Science 2009).
Natalia established her lab at the Dunn School of Pathology in the University of Oxford in 2011, supported by the Royal Society University Research Fellowship. Building on her interest in RNA field, Natalia’s lab studies R-loop biology in health and disease. Natalia is currently an MRC Senior Research Fellow and a Tutor in Medicine in Trinity College (Oxford) where she teaches Medical and Biomedical students.