Aleksandra Grochowska

My research is centred on understanding the molecular mechanisms that allow cancer cells to adapt, disseminate, and eventually form metastases. Currently, as a postdoctoral researcher at the Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, I study circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in breast cancer, with a particular interest in how the tumour microenvironment shapes cancer cell plasticity and metastatic competence.

My current work involves developing experimental models to study tumour cell responses to microenvironmental stress and establishing workflows for CTC isolation and characterization and single-cell transcriptomic analysis. I am particularly interested in connecting the molecular states observed in circulating tumour cells with the earlier biological processes that prepare tumour cells for dissemination and survival outside the primary tumour.

I obtained my PhD in Medical Sciences with distinction, investigating the role of the epigenetic reader BAZ1B in colorectal cancer. During my doctoral research, I developed genetically modified cancer cell models and combined molecular, functional, and transcriptomic approaches to study the role of BAZ1B in tumour progression.

My background combines experimental and computational cancer biology. I have experience in developing stable genetically modified cell lines, next-generation sequencing (NGS), genomic and transcriptomic data analysis, and preclinical mouse models, including patient-derived xenografts (PDX) of solid and haematological malignancies. My earlier work in genomics included microarray data analysis and whole-exome sequencing, giving me experience across the workflow from experimental sample preparation and sequencing to bioinformatic analysis.

I am especially interested in research at the intersection of tumour microenvironment, cancer cell plasticity, liquid biopsy, single-cell biology, and metastatic dissemination, and in developing experimental approaches that connect molecular observations with the functional biology of cancer progression.