Dr. Sonia Rocha awarded Tenure

The Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression is pleased to announce that Dr. Sonia Rocha, Principal Investigator and EPSRCAcademic Fellow and Lecturer, has been awarded Tenure at the College of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee.

Originally from Portugal, Sonia studied Biology at the Faculty of Sciences, Porto University then began her Ph.D. research project in Zurich, Switzerland, in a collaborative project between the group of K. Winterhalter at the ETH and the group of M. Pruschy at the University Hospital.

Sonia Rocha then joined the group of Neil Perkins to work as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Dundee. Sonia’s postdoctoral research led her to investigate the crosstalk between tumour suppressors and the NF-kappaB family of transcription factors, which in turn led to her interest in hypoxia. Sonia was subsequently appointed as a Principal Investigator at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression where she has pursued her research interests in studying gene regulation during hypoxia.

“The award of Sonia’s Tenure at the University of Dundee is well-deserved and a boost for the Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression,” said Professor Angus Lamond, Director of the Centre.

“During my time at the University of Dundee, the Gene Regulation and Expression Division has grown immensely,” said Dr Rocha. The resources, facilities and intellectual atmosphere are the best I have encountered so my decision to start my research group in the same location as my postdoctoral studies was easy. Receiving tenure has been a validation of that decision. I am very thankful to all the people who believed in me, and to all the funding agencies that have and are currently supporting my research.

Dr. Rocha’s research has been funded by grants from the MRC, RCUK, the Royal Society, the AICR and the Wellcome Trust.