CV

Dr. rer. nat. Lucia A. Torres Fernández

Academic education

01/2015 - 04/2020: Doctorate (PhD) - Doctor in Molecular Biomedicine. Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany.

01/2012 - 10/2014: Master of Science (MSc) - Master in Life and Medical Sciences. Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany.

10/2006 - 02/2012: Undergraduate studies - Diploma in Biotechnology. Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Environment (ETSEAMN), Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Spain; ERASMUS in Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary (09/2010 – 08/2011).

Scientific degrees

04/2020: Dr. rer. nat. in Molecular Biomedicine (summa cum laude).
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany.

10/2014: M.Sc. in Life and Medical Sciences.
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany.

02/2012: Diploma in Biotechnology.
Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Environment, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.

Scientific career

06/2026 - present: Junior group leader – Nonsense-mediated decay hyperactivation as an adaptive response to genomic instability in SCLC. Translational Genomics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne, Germany.

10/2021 - 05/2026: Postdoc – Exploring nonsense-mediated decay inhibition as a novel therapeutic strategy in small cell lung cancer. Translational Genomics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne, Germany.

04/2020 - 12/2020: Postdoc – (1) The role of TRIM71 in germline development. (2) TRIM71-mediated dual mechanistic repression of let-7 miRNAs. Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany.

01/2015 - 04/2020: Doctoral thesis – Unravelling TRIM71-mediated RNA regulatory mechanisms in developmental and oncogenic processes. Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany.

01/2014 - 08/2014: Master thesis – The role of TRIM71 in the LIN28/let-7a axis and the miRNA silencing pathway. Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany.

09/2013 - 12/2013: Internship – The role of LNK (SH2B3) in melanoma. Cancer Science Institute (CSI), National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore.

03/2013 - 05/2013: Internship – In vivo SELEX: isolation and purification of cancer-specific aptamer libraries from mouse tumor tissues. Center for Aptamer Research and Development (CARD), Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany.

01/2013 - 03/2013: Internship – UBE2C links TRIM71 expression and tumorigenesis. Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany.

09/2011 - 02/2012: Diploma thesis – Characterization of melon phloem viroidal RNA-binding proteins: genetic variants determining resistance and susceptibility to Hop stunt viroid (HSVd) infection. Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants (IBMCP), Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Spain.

07/2009 - 07/2010: Internship – Plant biotechnology and viroidal pathogen infection. Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants (IBMCP). Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Spain.

Honors/ Awards/ Memberships:

2026: QED Science – Top 1% Preprints of the year.
2025: KPA Cancer – UoC Excellence Proposal team.
2025: Best talk – CCLC Meeting (Cologne, Germany).
2023: Best poster – e:Med Meeting (Berlin, Germany).
2021: Grant – DFG Walter Benjamin Programme.
2020: Publication Award 2019 – BFB Symposium (Hennef, Germany).
2018: Best poster – GTCbio 15th Stem Cell Summit (Boston, USA).
2017: Best talk – BFB Symposium (Hennef, Germany).
2015: Best poster – BFB Symposium (Hennef, Germany).

Contact Information

10 most relevant publications

Torres Fernández LA, Boehm V, Kaufmann J, Rumińska A, Becker JP, Marquez MG, de Bruijn B, Müller C, Alavinejad N, Lovric L, Bihler J, Weihrauch KR, Kaiser L, Schmiel M, Maas L, Beleggia F, Ibruli O, Göbel B, Sakthivelu V, Bosco G, Fanyu L, Androulidaki A, von Karstedt S, Cartolano M, Brägelmann J, Valiulis J, D’Rozario J, Wobst N, Höpker K, John F, Wolf J, Quaas A, Knapp S, Davoodi P, Schöllhorn A, Gouttefangeas C, Rammensee HG, Riemer AB, Reinhardt HC, Schlößer HA, Gehring NH, Peifer M, Thomas RK, George J. A targetable dependency on nonsense-mediated decay for proteostasis and immune control in small cell lung cancer (2026). Molecular Cancer. *Accepted on 17th July 2026; publication pending.
Androulidaki A, Liu F, Bebber CM, Kisis I, Sakthivelu V, Hunold P, Koerner L, Dahlhaus A, Yapici FI, Grimm C, Pacholewska A, Tishina S, Doskotz F, Torres Fernández LA, Stroh J, Abdallah AT, Beck J, Mulalic L, Schmitt A, Grüll H, Persigehl T, Quaas A, Peifer M, Brägelmann J, Reinhardt HC, Nieper P, Hänsel-Hertsch R, Thomas RK, George J, Schweiger MR, Pasparakis M, Beleggia F, von Karstedt S. Lack of caspase 8 directs neuronal progenitor-like reprogramming and small cell lung cancer progression. Nat Commun. 2025;16(1):11280. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-67142-4
Ibruli O, Rose F, Beleggia F, Schmitt A, Cartolano M, Fernandez LT, Saggau J, Bonasera D, Kiljan M, Gozum G, Lichius L, Cai J, Niu L na, Caiaffa MI, Herter JM, Walczak H, Liccardi G, Grüll H, Büttner R, Bosco G, George J, Thomas RK, Bozek K, Reinhardt HC, Herter-Sprie GS. A novel mouse model recapitulating the MMR-defective SCLC subtype uncovers an actionable sensitivity to immune checkpoint blockade. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2024;150(11):496. doi:10.1007/s00432-024-05942-9
Müller F, Lim JKM, Bebber CM, Seidel E, Tishina S, Dahlhaus A, Stroh J, Beck J, Yapici FI, Nakayama K, Torres Fernández LA, Brägelmann J, Leprivier G, von Karstedt S. Elevated FSP1 protects KRAS-mutated cells from ferroptosis during tumor initiation. Cell Death Differ. 2023;30(2):442-456. doi:10.1038/s41418-022-01096-8
Torres Fernández LA, Emich J, Port Y, Mitschka S, Wöste M, Schneider S, Fietz D, Oud MS, di Persio S, Neuhaus N, Kliesch S, Hölzel M, Schorle H, Friedrich C, Tüttelmann F, Kolanus W. TRIM71 Deficiency Causes Germ Cell Loss During Mouse Embryogenesis and Is Associated with Human Male Infertility. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021;9. doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.658966
Torres Fernández LA, Mitschka S, Ulas T, Weise S, Dahm K, Becker M, Händler K, Beyer M, Windhausen J, Schultze JL, Kolanus W. The stem cell–specific protein TRIM71 inhibits maturation and activity of the pro-differentiation miRNA let-7 via two independent molecular mechanisms. RNA. 2021;27(7):805-828. doi:10.1261/rna.078696.121
Torres Fernández LA, Jux B, Bille M, Port Y, Schneider K, Geyer M, Mayer G, Kolanus W. The mRNA repressor TRIM71 cooperates with Nonsense-Mediated Decay factors to destabilize the mRNA of CDKN1A/p21. Nucleic Acids Res. Published online November 16, 2019. doi:10.1093/nar/gkz1057
Ding LW, Sun QY, Edwards JJ, Torres Fernández LA, Ran XB, Zhou SQ, Scolyer RA, Wilmott JS, Thompson JF, Doan N, Said JW, Venkatachalam N, Xiao JF, Loh XY, Pein M, Xu L, Mullins DW, Yang H, Lin DC, Koeffler HP. LNK suppresses interferon signaling in melanoma. Nat Commun. 2019;10(1):2230. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09711-y
Ding LW, Sun QY, Tan KT, Chien W, Thippeswamy AM, Eng Juh Yeoh A, Kawamata N, Nagata Y, Xiao JF, Loh XY, Lin DC, Garg M, Jiang YY, Xu L, Lim SL, Liu LZ, Madan V, Sanada M, Torres Fernández LA, Preethi H, Lill M, Kantarjian HM, Kornblau SM, Miyano S, Liang DC, Ogawa S, Shih LY, Yang H, Koeffler HP. Mutational Landscape of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cancer Res. 2017;77(2):390-400. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-1303
Chien W, Ding LW, Sun QY, Torres Fernández LA, Tan SZ, Xiao J, Lim SL, Garg M, Lee KL, Kitajima S, Takao S, Leong WZ, Sun H, Tokatly I, Poellinger L, Gery S, Koeffler PH. Selective inhibition of unfolded protein response induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. Oncotarget. 2014;5(13):4881-4894. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.2051

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