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