Sequeira Lab

Inês Sequeira is Principal Investigator and Vice-Director for Research at NIMSB.

Inês obtained her Biology degree from the University of Lisbon and Université Libre de Bruxelles, where she specialised in genetics and developmental biology. She completed her PhD at Institut Pasteur, in Paris, working as part of a multidisciplinary team to investigate stem cell heterogeneity and behaviour in the hair follicle, using lineage tracing, clonal analysis, imaging and mathematical modelling.

In 2014, Inês joined the lab of Prof Fiona Watt at King’s College London for her postdoctoral training on epithelial stem cells and cancer biology. During her postdoc, she discovered a novel immunoregulatory role for Keratin 76 in tumour development and led work on the genetic and cellular heterogeneity of oral squamous cell carcinoma. By linking whole-exome sequencing data with tumour location, clonal organisation, and immune infiltration, her research helped reveal the dynamics of oral cancer formation and opened new avenues for early diagnosis, and disease monitoring.

Following her postdoctoral training, Dr Sequeira led a research group at L’Oréal R&I, where she investigated skin ageing and regeneration.

In 2020, Inês joined the Institute of Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London as Associate Professor (Reader) and Deputy Director of Research.

Dr Sequeira’s lab focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying oral cancer formation and the regenerative capacity of the oral mucosa, a tissue known for its rapid, scarless healing compared with skin. Her team combines experimental and computational approaches, including advanced imaging, transcriptomics, and mathematical modelling, to map cellular interactions and uncover the intrinsic and extrinsic signals that shape oral wound healing and tumour development.

Committed to collaborative science, she co-founded the London Stem Cell Network  and the SpatiaLondon network (network on Spatial Biology), and currently coordinates the Oral and Craniofacial Bionetwork of the Human Cell Atlas

Fátima O. Martins is a biomedical researcher whose work focuses on the regulation of metabolic homeostasis and tissue function in health and disease. She has a strong background in in vivo models of metabolic disorders, where she investigated the impact of dietary challenges on glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and behavior using molecular and physiological approaches. 
Her research integrates systemic and cellular perspectives, with particular interest in how signaling pathways and environmental factors shape tissue responses. She is increasingly interested in translating these questions into human-relevant systems, including organoids and microphysiological platforms. 
In parallel, she has been actively involved in scientific entrepreneurship, having co-founded a startup and participated in multiple innovation and translational initiatives. These experiences have strengthened her interest in bridging fundamental research with real-world applications and therapeutic development. 
She is particularly motivated to explore how cellular heterogeneity and microenvironmental interactions contribute to tissue regeneration, fibrosis, and disease progression.

Inês Saldanha has an academic background in Biology and Biomedical Research. She has developed research experience across several areas of the life sciences, including biochemistry, cancer biology, and immunology. More specifically, she has been involved in projects related to protein-protein interactions in xenobiotic metabolism pathways, intercellular communication and biomarker discovery in cancer, and has also explored innate immune responses to AAV-based gene delivery using 3D cell culture models. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Molecular Biosciences at ITQB NOVA, funded by a NIMSB fellowship in the Sequeira Lab, where she focuses on epithelial immunity and tumour development. Inês is also actively engaged in science communication through Pint of Science, where she is part of the national communication team.

Diana Pereira is a Postdoctoral Researcher with a background in biochemistry, biotechnology, and a PhD in epithelial biology from Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on understanding tissue homeostasis and repair through the lens of multiomic technologies. Diana has extensive experience in single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial omics, which she use to dissect cellular heterogeneity and map cell–cell interactions in complex tissues. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Sequeira’s lab at Queen Mary University of London and her work integrates computational and experimental approaches, including organoid models, in vivo and in vitro systems and imaging.

Mara Gelmetti completed her PhD in Immunology in May 2025 at Queen Mary University London and she is now working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Sequeira lab at Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on the role of the thymus on central tolerance and more specifically on how keratins found in the thymus are crucial to prevent skin inflammatory diseases. Her work combines bioinformatics approaches and phenotypic characterisation with genetic models to investigate the functional function of thymic keratins in T cell development. Previously to her PhD, she worked as a research assistant at King’s College London in the Department of Infectious Diseases, an industrial placement intern at Kymab Ltd. (now Sanofi) and completed my BSc in Pharmacology at the University of Bath.