Contact information
Research groups
Johana Itzel Ramos Galguera
Research Assistant
research interests
My research focuses on understanding how genetic and microenvironmental factors interact to shape different populations of melanocytes across the body, and how this influences melanoma development. By studying these variations, I aim to gain insight into the mechanisms that regulate these anatomically distinct melanocytes. Using zebrafish as a model system coupled with analysis of human samples, I combine experimental and bioinformatic approaches to investigate the genomic diversity of melanocytes across different anatomical regions of the skin. This comparative perspective allows the exploration of how genetic programs and tissue environments shape melanocyte identity and susceptibility to transformation. Ultimately, understanding these fundamental differences may advance our knowledge of melanoma subtypes and lead to the identification of novel therapeutic targets.
Background
From 2021 to 2025, I pursued a Bachelor's degree in Genomic Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), a highly selective and internationally recognized program that integrates biology, mathematics, and computer science to train scientists in genomics. In my second semester, I joined the laboratory of Daniela Robles Espinoza at the International Laboratory for Human Genome Research (LIIGH-UNAM), where I analyzed genetic variants associated with melanoma risk and conducted several experimental protocols, and bioinformatic analyses trying to understand tumorigenesis and metastasis in cutaneous and acral melanoma. Later, as a senior undergraduate, I completed my thesis project in Professor Richard White’s group in collaboration with Dr. Robles, developing zebrafish melanoma models to investigate the invasive cell state. This work combined single-cell data analysis with in-vivo imaging and revealed differences in the oncogenic susceptibility of the invasive phenotype in preneoplastic melanoma cells, as well as interesting interactions between the invasive cell state and the microenvironment.