Leire Torices Cabarcos, PhD

Curiosity about the world of biology, together with a love for wild animals, is what brought me into science. During my studies at the University of the Basque Country, and especially due to a subject called Molecular Evolution, I developed a special interest in molecular biology and genetics, so I decided to pursue my PhD in this field. For my thesis I worked at the characterization of mutations in tumor suppressor genes, and I studied proteoform diversity due to differential protein translation. Towards the end of my PhD studies I enrolled in a Master of bioinformatics and biostatistics, and applied computational methods to the analysis of various mutational signatures in tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes.

In 2023 I joined the MDAlab as a postdoc. The aim of my project is to study the biology of sucrase isomaltase (SI) and how genetic variation in the SI gene can affect carbohydrate digestion and bowel symtpoms in large-cohorts of IBS patients from the GenMalCarb consortium.

In my spare time I enjoy going for a run, reading a good book and doing wildlife observation activities.