Research Associate, Wellcome Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, Division of Cell Matrix Biology and Regenerative Medicine, FBMH.

Joan studied Biochemistry at Imperial College London and received her PhD from the Institute of Cancer Research in 2013. She has travelled the world in the name of science (Denmark, Sweden, USA, Hong Kong), and arrived back in the UK to study the nitty-gritty of matrix (read: collagen) control by cells. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Manchester, and is a Mass Spectrometry aficionado.

She is also a Postdoc Representative – she believes in changing the traditional views on “academia”, broadening career horizons for Postdocs, and promoting well-being for scientists in general. Thanks to labs shutdown during COVID19, she initiated the expansion of Postdoc Appreciation Week (PAW) to UK and ROI-wide National PAW events in 2020 (https://tinyurl.com/UKPAW), involving 18 institutions in the organisation, and open the events to all postdocs in/from the UK and Republic of Ireland.