Monika Yanovska
Staff Scientist
Monika obtained her BSc in Biomedical Sciences at Maastricht University (the Netherlands). In the final year of her studies, she worked on her bachelor’s thesis within the group of Prof. Pilar Martinez at the School of Mental Health and Neuroscience (Maastricht University). In this project she evaluated the efficiency of adeno-associated virus-mediated ceramide transport protein (long isoform) expression in wild type mouse brain. Thereafter, she continued working as a research in the group of Prof. P. Martinez, where she was predominantly involved in the investigation of the sphingosine 1-phosphate analogue effect on the amyloid β pathology and neuroinflammation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease.
She received her M. Sc. in Biomedical Sciences at Leiden University (the Netherlands). During the first year of her studies, she worked on a project developing an organ-on-a chip cellular models to study the interaction between cancer and thrombosis under the supervision of Dr. Araci Rondon within the group of Prof. Henri Versteeg at the Department of Internal Medicine (Leiden University). For her master’s thesis, she joined the group of Prof. Anna Herland (KTH Royal Institute of Technoloy and Karolinska Institute, Sweden), where she gained insights into the differentiation and characterization of hiPSC-derived vascular cells from patients with glucose haploinsufficiency under the supervision of Dr. Julia Rogal. Afterwards, she continued working as a research engineer in the group of Prof. A. Herland on the development of an innovative human neurovascular unit-on-a chip model utilizing human induced pluripotent stem cells to study metabolic activities across the neurovasculature and brain vascularization.
In October 2024, Monika joined the 3R-Center for In Vitro Models and Alternatives to Animal Testing. Here she will support interested scientists realizing their research utilizing microphysiological systems within the MPS Core Facility.
During her free time, she enjoys baking, travelling and spending time with her friends and family (consisting at the moment of more animals than humans).
