Affiliation: University of Newcastle

Dr. Luiza Steffens Reinhardt is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Newcastle (Australia) working on the molecular alterations in cancers that lead to resistance to DNA-damaging therapies. Luiza received her PhD in Biosciences from the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre in 2022 in the field of molecules with biotechnological potential and has submitted her thesis for a second doctorate degree in Molecular Genetics from the University of Newcastle in the field of p53 isoforms and their links to chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer. Luiza has acquired extensive experience with DNA damage signaling pathways, particularly with protein kinases involved in the DNA damage checkpoint activation during her previous studies under the supervision of Prof Dinara Moura at the Genetic Toxicology laboratory (UFCSPA).

Her current research is particularly focused on targeting the p53 isoforms and using these variants as disease biomarkers. Her research under the supervision of A/Prof Kelly Avery-Kiejda on the role of the p53 isoforms in response to DNA-damaging therapies has underpinned novel mechanisms of disruption of the p53 canonical DNA damage response and has led to the identification of novel markers of breast cancer recurrence.