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Agata Stępień, PhD, eng.

Agata received her Engineer and MSc degree in biotechnology from the University of Agriculture in Krakow. She then moved to Poznan for her PhD, and worked in the group of Prof. Jarmolowski and Prof. Szweykowska-Kulinska at Adam Mickiewicz University. Her PhD research was focused on the characterization of the crosstalk between the spliceosome and the microprocessor in plants by molecular biology, microscopic and biochemical techniques. After graduating in 2017, Agata got her first Postdoc position in K. Dorota Raczynska’s group to study the role of U7 snRNA in human cells. In 2019, Agata joined STOP lab to investigate transcription termination changes during cancer progression.

Martyna Plens-Gałąska, PhD

Martyna received her MSc degree in Molecular Biology from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań where she continued with PhD research in the group of prof. Hans Bluyssen. She focused on potential strategies to inhibit STAT proteins activity in inflammation during onset and progression of atherosclerosis. Currently she is writing up her PhD thesis and making sure experiments in STOP lab can run smoothly.
Martyna loves cats, dogs and plants and aims to convert our hallway to an exotic greenhouse. In her free time you’ll find her in the bushes watching birds.

Joanna Kwiatkowska, PhD

Asia earned her MSc and PhD degrees in Molecular Biology from the Adam Mickiewicz University. In the Laboratory of RNA Biochemistry, headed by Prof. Mikolaj Olejniczak, she used biochemical approaches to characterize the mechanism of bacterial RNA molecules interaction with chaperone proteins. She joined STOP lab in June 2022 and is interested in biochemical aspects of alternative polyadenylation. She likes non-fiction literature, jogging and sewing.

Deepshika Pulimamidi, MSc

Deepshika obtained her Master’s degree in Bioinformatics from Pondicherry University in India. Following her postgraduation she gained experience in two different labs in India where her focus was to understand the novel crosstalk between histone post-translational modifications (specifically methylation) and RNA polymerase II mediated gene expression. In her research, she applied NGS techniques such as RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq to understand how epigenetics and transcription regulatory pathways are interconnected to regulate gene expression patterns, as they often tend to overdrive in disorders like cancer. In April 2023, Deepshika joined STOP lab to study the cross-talk of RNA cleavage and transcription termination. Besides research, she is passionate about dancing, travelling and cooking.

Apoorva Shrivastava, MSc

Apoorva completed his integrated Bachelor and Master of Technology dual degree in Biotechnology from KIIT University, India. He worked at a genome sequencing company before moving to Birmingham, UK. In order to learn in-depth about molecular biology, he pursued MSc in Molecular Biotechnology from University of Birmingham where he also worked under Dr. Matthias Soller for a short duration, studying m6A methyltransferase complex. He joined STOP lab in December 2024 under the ERC grant and is currently working on Understanding the crosstalk between 3’ end processing and transcription termination from genetic perspective. If not in lab, you would find him playing badminton or critically analysing movies. He is also fond of photography and runs a dedicated page for photography on instagram.

Magda Kopczyńska, MSc

Magda graduated from the Poznan University of Medical Sciences with a Master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology. During her undergraduate studies she worked on the role of long non-coding RNA molecules in cancer and their potential utility as biomarkers at the Laboratory of Cancer Genetics (Greater Poland Cancer Center). In October 2020 she started her PhD studies in our team and investigates how the chromatin environment influences transcription termination, and vice versa. In her spare time Magda enjoys popular science writing. Together with Martyna they form the green-fingered fraction in the lab, taking loving care of the plants on our floor.

Upasana Saha, PhD

Upasana received her MSc in Biotechnology from Visva-Bharati in India. She continued her PhD in India at Jadavpur University under the supervision of Prof. Biswadip Das. Her research involved understanding mRNA quality control pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisieae, focusing mainly on the nucleus. In 2019, she moved to the lab of Prof. Torben Heick Jensen in Aarhus University, Denmark for her first postdoc position. There she studied the role of the nuclear poly(A) binding protein Nab2p in mRNA homeostasis. She joined STOP lab in October 2021 to investigate the molecular mechanism of premature transcription termination. Upasana loves cooking, shopping and exploring new places.

Ewa Stein, PhD

Ewa graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań with a MSc in Biotechnology. She also started her PhD there in the Laboratory of RNA Biochemistry in the group of prof. Mikołaj Olejniczak. Her research concerned the recognition of bacterial small RNAs by proteins using biochemical methods. In the STOP lab Ewa assists the project led by Asia.
Ewa likes reading and spending time outdoors.

Klaudia Ostatek, MSc

Klaudia is a molecular biologist and biotechnology researcher. She completed her bachelor’s and master’s studies at TU Dresden, Germany—first in German, then in English—and conducted her master’s thesis at Stockholm University in Sweden. In October 2024, she began her PhD studies in our team. Her research focuses on transcription termination, particularly on enhancing the expression of the limiting factor PCF11. She is also involved in smFISH (Single Molecule Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization) experiments to visualize transcription and RNA localization. Outside the lab, she enjoys learning foreign languages, photography, film editing, traveling, and caring for her ever-growing collection of plants. She hopes to incorporate lymphatic tissue research into her scientific career in the future.