Maria Azkanaz, MSc. (PhD student)

Netherlands Cancer Institute, Netherlands

Maria Azkanaz is a PhD candidate at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, supervised by Prof. Dr. Jacco van Rheenen. She studies intestinal stem cell dynamics, regeneration, and tumor initiation using lineage tracing, microsurgery, and intravital microscopy.
During her PhD, Maria uncovered how Wnt-driven retrograde cell movement regulates intestinal stem cell numbers (Nature, 2022) and developed imaging methods for tissue regeneration (Jove, 2023). Her recent work reveals that Rho-mediated extrusion limits HRAS mutant cell persistence in the intestine.
Maria earned her Master’s in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Groningen and conducted research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (Toronto) and the University Medical Center Groningen, focusing on stem cells and leukemia modeling.

Presentation(s):

• STEM CELLS AND CELL METASTASIS

  Friday, June 13, 2025
  2:00 PM – 3:30 PM HK Time

• RHO-MEDIATED CELLULAR EXTRUSION DRIVES DIFFERENTIAL OUTCOMES OF KRAS AND HRAS MUTANT CELLS IN THE INTESTINE

  Friday, June 13, 2025
  2:25 PM – 2:35 PM HK Time