I studied the degree on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UPV/EHU (2015-2019) and I had my first research experience during my Bachelor’s Thesis in the Molecular Biology of Cancer group, where I studied the role of IRF2BPL gene in the regulation of immune response, under the supervision of Aintzane Apraiz and Ana Zubiaga. Next, I did the Molecular Biology and Biomedicine Master (2019-2020), also at UPV/EHU, and during the Master Thesis I had the opportunity to work in part of my current PhD project. Under the supervision of Jone Mitxelena and Ana Zubiaga, I studied the function of E2F1 and E2F2 transcription factors in the regulation of EMT via SLUG. I also had the opportunity to present this work at the IkerGazte 2021 congress for research in euskera. Thanks to a contract as a researcher (may 2021-january 2023), I had the chance to participate in different projects in the Molecular Biology of Cancer group. One of them focused on studying the role of E2f2 in the regulation of apoptosis of activated T Lymphocytes and immune-mediated injury via Fas and FasL expression regulation. In another project, we investigated the function of E2F1 and E2F2 in the regulation of replicative stress in prostate cancer, and we showed that E2F activity could be used as a target from the therapeutic point of view to reduce the growth of prostate cancer cells. Ssince January 2023, I am working on my PhD project thanks to a predoctoral fellowship from the Basque Government, also under the supervision of Jone Mitxelena and Ana Zubiaga. The main objective of the project is to study the role of E2F1 and E2F2 in the development of colorectal cancer, particularly how these factors modulate the acquisition of metastatic features.

Publications

1. Hamidi M, Eriz A, Mitxelena J, Fernandez-Ares L, Aurrekoetxea I, Aspichueta
P, Iglesias-Ara A, Zubiaga AM. Targeting E2F Sensitizes Prostate Cancer Cells to
Drug-Induced Replication Stress by Promoting Unscheduled CDK1 Activity. Cancers
(Basel). 2022 Oct 10;14(19):4952. doi: 10.3390/cancers14194952. PMID: 36230876;
PMCID: PMC9564059.

2. Mustafa N, Mitxelena J, Infante A, Zenarruzabeitia O, Eriz A, Iglesias-Ara A,
Zubiaga AM. E2f2 Attenuates Apoptosis of Activated T Lymphocytes and Protects
from Immune-Mediated Injury through Repression of Fas and FasL. Int J Mol Sci.
2021 Dec 28;23(1):311. doi: 10.3390/ijms23010311. PMID: 35008734; PMCID:
PMC8745065.

3. Eriz A. , Mentxaka G. , Iglesias-Ara A. , Mitxelena J. & Zubiaga AM. SLUG genearen erregulazioa eta epitelio-mesenkima trantsizioa E2F faktoreen eraginpean daude minbiziaren testuinguruan. IkerGazte 2021, Osasun Zientziak. doi: 10.26876/ikergazte.2021.04. ISBN: 978-84-8438-790-9.