Dr Ana Banito
Meet Ana, a co-investigator on PROTECT
Ana Banito studied biology at the University of Lisbon before completing her PhD studies at the Imperial College of London. She performed her postdoctoral studies at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center working on epigenetic mechanisms underlying oncogene-induced senescence and cancer. There she developed a strong interest on sarcoma biology and mouse modelling, focusing on the molecular activity of an oncofusion protein driving synovial sarcoma. Since 2019, she has been leading the soft-tissue sarcoma laboratory at the Hopp Children Cancer Center (KiTZ) a joint institute of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital and Heidelberg University.
Her research focus on molecular mechanisms underlying oncogenic activity of fusion oncoproteins and on the development of more flexible immunocompetent animal models for sarcomas. Her team aims to better understand the biology of pediatric sarcomas and to improve treatments for patients.