Dr Joanna Loizou

Biography

Joanna Loizou obtained her PhD in 2004 in the UK from the University of Manchester where she also spent time at the Genome Damage and Stability Centre in Sussex, working on DNA single-strand break repair. Next, she did her postdoctoral training at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France where she linked histone acetylation to DNA double-strand break repair. Her second postdoc was at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute (now the Francis Crick Institute) where she identified a novel DNA repair factor that functions in the resolution of DNA double-strand breaks that are generated during B cell development, to suppress lymphomagenesis.

In 2011, Joanna set up her independent lab at the Centre for Molecular Medicine in Austria, and in 2020 moved to the Centre for Cancer Research at the Medical University of Vienna. Her team focused on the fundamental importance of DNA repair pathways in maintaining genome stability with a strong emphasis on exploring how DNA repair pathways can be exploited for the treatment of cancer and chromosome instability diseases but also in genome editing technologies. Her lab took system-level approaches, using genomics, genetics, proteomics and chemical biology to investigate the DNA damage response and ensuing DNA repair pathways. In doing so, they identified and functionally characterized several novel proteins and pathways involved in genome stability and DNA repair.

In 2022, Joanna joined AstraZeneca in the UK as a Director of Translational Medicine in Early Oncology where she led Translational Medicine studies across the Epigenetics portfolio.

At the ICR, Joanna is a Group Leader across the Divisions of Cancer Therapeutics and Breast Cancer Research. Joanna’s role also includes the Deputy Directorship of the ICR’s new Centre for Target Validation.

Joanna is passionate about supporting the next generation of scientists and has been actively involved in training schemes and mentorship.