Ana Kutschat wins prestigious MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship

(Vienna, 21.07.2022) Congratulations to Ana Kutschat on receiving one of the prestigious MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships for her project “High-resolution dissection of non-coding determinants of disease”! In the lab of Davide Seruggia at St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, she is investigating high-risk mutations associated with the development of leukemia. 

“These sequence variants are located in DNA regions with unknown function. We hypothesize that they may affect the regulation of genes and oncogenes, thus facilitating the onset of leukemia. By systematically going through all these genetic variants, we want to pinpoint which of them are pathogenic, and which genes are misregulated,” explains Ana Kutschat. Her vision is to integrate this knowledge into diagnostic panels for childhood leukemia, supporting early diagnosis and potential preventive measures. 

Furthermore, she aims at characterizing one of the abovementioned genes in more detail. “There are a lot of high-risk mutations in the proximity of this gene, but we don’t really know anything about its function. Our goal is to elucidate its role in blood development as well as leukemia initiation and progression.”

In her approach, Ana Kutschat will be establishing and employing cutting-edge genomics and genome editing technologies. She aims at specializing in innovative CRISPR screens and together with collaborators at Harvard Medical School, she will develop a novel strategy for CRISPR screen analysis.

Part of Horizon Europe, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) are the European Union’s flagship funding program for doctoral education and postdoctoral training of researchers.