María
Nogales Pons

Since I was a child, I have always been a very curious person. All my teachers always told me “Please, stop asking questions!” because I wanted to know everything, even the things that weren’t known or that are still unknown.

That is one of the main reasons why I knew science was made for me. I graduated with honors in my Sanitary-Scientific baccalaureate which opened the door to start my Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences at Universitat de Barcelona in 2018. I have done my Final Degree Project abroad at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Chuva de Sousa Lopes and Julieta del Valle (Ph.D. fellow). They both helped me to be independent in lab work, how carry out different lab techniques, and to be even more curious and creative. During my Final Degree Project, we uncovered the mechanisms of how folliculogenesis works in human ovaries and tried to mimic it in vitro models. Finally, in 2022 I graduated in Biomedical Sciences.

Even though I love all the reproduction research path, during my BSc I was mostly interested in Immunology. That is why I applied for the Master in Immunology Research in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, which I started in September 2022. I discovered María Casanova’s lab via Twitter, and by reading all their work I wanted to join her group. I started in María’s lab in the CNIO in January 2023 for my Master’s thesis. Now as a Master’s Student my goal is to gain even more experience in the lab and to further enter the cancer immunity world, which needs to be even more researched and has many things to be discovered yet.

In lab life, I really like doing experiments because it makes me keep my “brain active”. I also enjoy going to talks, learning about other themes, and exploiting every situation that can make me keep learning.

Apart from all the Science life, I enjoy a lot playing basketball and I am on a team (and we are such good players;) ). I also love spending time outdoors doing adventure sports, hiking, or going for a walk. Furthermore, I also like staying at home, especially those rainy days with my Netflix on, a good book, and a hot chocolate mug!