Bárbara Zita Peters Couto
PhD Student
Biography
I have always liked biology and medicine, so studying biochemistry for my undergrad was a good decision. My journey of liking computers so much started when I went to the CRUK-CI for a wet lab summer internship. I saw two interns next to me working on a super cool-looking computer screen. Since then, I have pursued computational knowledge constantly. During my master’s in Berlin, I again had both wet lab and dry lab experience, and realised that I am very passionate about computers (thank you Vim). During my master’s thesis at Stefanie Großwendt’s lab, I also realised that I am super interested in the topic of cell-cell communication, and in databases with biological prior knowledge. Therefore (and especially thanks to all my previous supervisors, colleagues, family and friends) I have decided to pursue academia further, joining the Saez-Rodriguez lab as a PhD student.
Research Interests
With the existing and upcoming omics technologies, it could be possible to get deep insights into a cell’s way of working. I am super interested in how cells communicate/interact with each other, and how this knowledge could help us find therapeutic strategies for cancer and other diseases. During my PhD I am going to be part of theDECIDER project(European Union-funded project, grant agreement No 965193). Ultimately, my aim is to better understand the biology of cancer, to hopefully help patients down the line!
Professional Career
2023-present
PhD Candidate, Saez-Rodriguez Group, Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Heidelberg University, Faculty of Medicine & Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany
2023
Visiting Researcher, groups of Shila Ghazanfar and Ellis Patrick, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sydney, Australia
2022
MSc Student, Grosswendt lab, Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Centre, Germany
2021
Research internships at the Institute for Theoretical Biology and Department of Radiation Oncology and Radiotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
2019
Summer studentship, Hannon lab, CRUK-CI, University of Cambridge, UK
Education
2020-2022
MSc Molecular Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
2017-2020
BSc Biochemistry, King’s College London, UK
2018-2019
BSc Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara