Diana campos

Postdoctoral Research Associate. Funded by Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions - UKRI

Diana completed her undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Oviedo (2011-2015, Asturias, Spain), where her early interest in molecular biology led her to join the research group of Prof. Carlos López-Otín in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. During her Bachelor’s thesis, she began studying the physiological and pathological roles of various proteases. Graduating with top honors, she received a competitive fellowship to pursue a Master’s degree in Biomedicine and Molecular Oncology at the University of Oviedo. Under Prof. Carlos López-Otín’s mentorship, Diana generated two novel mouse models to further investigate the role of proteases in cancer processes. 

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Following her Master’s degree, she secured a highly competitive FPU PhD fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science, initiating her doctoral research in 2016 under the supervision of Prof. López-Otín and Prof. José M.P. Freije. Her research focused on uncovering the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying health maintenance to prevent disease. Diana’s contributions include the genomic annotation of two long-lived giant tortoise species, identifying specific genetic variants potentially linked to lifespan modulation. Additionally, she investigated the impact of several proteases on tissue repair and regeneration using cellular and animal models. During her doctoral studies, she broadened her expertise through research internships at Yale and Columbia Universities in the United States in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Her doctoral thesis, defended in 2022 and awarded the distinction of "Excellent Cum Laude," was recognized as the Best Doctoral Thesis in Basic Science by the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery of Asturias, Spain.

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In her postdoctoral work, Diana explored innovative strategies using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to deliver CRISPR-Cas9-based systems in both in vitro and in vivo settings, while also investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying aging. In 2024, she was awarded the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, which enabled her to join Dr. Daniel Muñoz-Espín’s group at the University of Cambridge. Here, her research focuses on exploring the interplay between cellular senescence, lung cancer, and aging.

Publications

• Loss of ADAM29 does not affect viability and fertility in mice but improves wound healing
  Campos-Iglesias D, Montero AA, Rodríguez F, López-Otín C, Freije JMP
  iScience. 2024;27(6):110135

• Assessing microbiota composition in the context of aging
  Campos-Iglesias D, Freije JMP, López-Otín C
  Methods Cell Biol. 2024;181:73-85
   

• USP49 deubiquitinase regulates the mitotic spindle checkpoint and prevents aneuploidy
  Campos-Iglesias D, Fraile JM, Bretones G, Montero AA, Bonzon-Kulichenko E, Vázquez J, López-Otín C, Freije JMP
  Cell Death Dis. 2023;14(1):60

• Ubiquitin-specific proteases as targets for anticancer drug therapies
  Campos-Iglesias D, López-Otín C. Freije JMP
  Chapter 4 in Cancer-Leading Proteases: 73-120

• Giant tortoise genomes provide insights into longevity and age-related diseases
  Quesada V, Freitas-Rodríguez S, Miller J, Pérez-Silva JG, Jiang Z, Tapia W, Santiago-Fernández O, Campos-Iglesias D, et al. … Caccone A, López-Otín C
  Nat Ecol Evol. 2019;3(1):87-95

• Protease silencing to explore the molecular mechanisms of cancer and aging
  Fraile JM, Campos-Iglesias D, Freije JMP
  Methods Mol Biol. 2018; 1731:261-269

• Loss of the deubiquitinase USP36 destabilizes the RNA helicase DHX33 and causes preimplantation lethality in mice
  Fraile JM, Campos-Iglesias D, Rodríguez F, Astudillo A, Vilarrasa-Blasi R, Verdaguer-Dot N, Prado MA, Paulo JA, Gygi SP, Martín-Subero JI, Freije JMP, López-Otín
  J Biol Chem. 2018;293(6):2183-2194

• USP39 deubiquitinase is essential for KRAS oncogene-driven cancer
  Fraile JM, Manchado E, Lujambio A, Quesada V, Campos-Iglesias D, Webb TR, Lowe SW, López-Otín C, Freije JMP
  J Biol Chem. 2017;292(10):4164-4175

• Deubiquitination in cancer stem cells
  Fraile JM, Campos-Iglesias D, Freije JMP
  Aging (Albany NY). 2017; 9(2):297-298

• The deubiquitinase USP54 is overexpressed in colorectal cancer stem cells and promotes intestinal tumorigenesis
  Fraile JM, Campos-Iglesias D, Rodríguez F, Español Y, Freije JMP
  Oncotarget. 2016;7(46):74427-74434