Dr. Aida Martinez Sanchez

Biography

Aida Martinez Sanchez is an Associate Professor in the Section of Cell Biology and Functional Genomics at Imperial College London. She leads a research group focused on understanding how microRNAs (miRNAs) and their gene targets regulate pancreatic beta-cell function in health and disease. Aida completed her PhD at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona from 2004 to 2009, where she studied the mechanisms controlling the expression of the cell cycle regulator and tumor suppressor p27kip1. During this time, miRNAs began to capture the attention of the scientific community. Aida’s team discovered that the translation of p27kip1 is regulated by the microRNA miR-181a, which impacts the cells' ability to differentiate macrophages. Her deep interest in miRNAs and non-coding RNAs continued during her subsequent research at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at the University of Oxford from 2009 to 2013, where she studied the role of miRNAs in cartilage function and identified specific roles for miR-145 and miR-1247 in the process of chondrocyte de-differentiation. Aida is particularly fascinated by how individual cells and organs coordinate to meet the body's metabolic needs, with pancreatic β-cell islets of Langerhans being a remarkable example of this complex and tightly regulated system controlling glucose homeostasis. In 2013, she joined the research group of Professor Guy Rutter at Imperial College as a Research Associate to study the role of miRNAs in β-cell function, which remained largely unknown. In 2017, Aida was awarded a New Investigator Research Grant from the Medical Research Council, allowing her to establish her own research group in the Section of Cell Biology and Functional Genomics. Her lab employs cutting-edge molecular and cellular biology techniques to investigate the roles of miRNAs and their gene targets in beta-cells, particularly in the context of diabetes progression. Currently, her research is primarily funded by grants from the Medical Research Council and Diabetes UK. Aida also serves as the director of the MSc in Applied Genomics at Imperial, where she leads the module titled 'Non-coding RNA, Gene Editing, In Vitro Modelling.'

Research Interests