Alina Mihalovits

Research interests

Chromatin remodelling and DNA mutations play pivotal roles in cancer development, with cancer-driving mutations in the coding genome being a key focus in cancer research. Nonetheless, mutations within the non-coding genome have been relatively overlooked, despite the critical roles the non-coding genome plays in gene expression regulation and maintaining chromatin stability.
In this project, we will use and build on a recently developed framework to identify non-coding cancer-driving mutations in pan-cancer and aim to understand how they might be linked to the development and progression of cancer.

Background

I am a DPhil student supervised by Dr Marketa Tomkova and Prof Ian Tomlinson, and funded by the Ludwig Cancer Research Institute. I completed my BSc in Genetics at the University of Sussex and earned an MSc in Applied Genomics from Imperial College London. For my master’s project, which was supervised by Dr Aida Martinez-Sanchez, I investigated the role of MTFP1 in ß-cell function, specifically the impact of MTFP1-downregulation on mitochondrial morphology, insulin production, and insulin secretion. Additionally, I gained research experience as a Research Assistant in the Cope Lab at King’s College London before joining the University of Oxford.