Profile

Hi! My name is Lucy and I come from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

I got fascinated by Nature already in primary school and chose to continue with my studies in a gymnasium which is specialized in natural sciences (National Highschool of Science and Mathematics). The school has been tightly working with the University of Sofia and this gave me the opportunity to experience first-hand the world of science for the first time. I naturally got hooked and ever since have been trying to understand how the numerous molecules in our bodies are working.

I then received Bachelor and Master degree from Nagoya University in Japan and then returned to Europe to pursue a PhD in Biochemistry in Heidelberg university. During this time I got interested in structural biology because it allows us to visualize how mechanistically things are happening in the cells. Therefore, two years ago I joined EMBL as a shared postdoc between two labs, one – specialized in Developmental Biology and the other – in Structural Biology. This gives me the chance to apply various in nature techniques to study the structure and function of novel RNA binding proteins.

Becoming a school ambassador allowed me to go back to my old school but this time from the position of the people who inspired me to pursue a career in science and I hope I can also transfer at least a little bit of my enthusiasm to the students I meet there.