Research - Our Team

Sofya Pozdniakova is a molecular biologist with a doctoral degree from the Freie University of Berlin. During her doctorate and postdoctoral studies at Charite University of Medicine, Berlin she obtained extensive expertise in mitochondrial biology and intraorganelle signaling.

As a postdoctoral researcher, she coordinates and develops new lines of research at AIRLAB, an innovative unit at ISGlobal that brings together diverse disciplines (biology, chemistry and physics) to understand the role of the environment on human health and search for the balance to maintain human and environmental wellbeing.

Sofya works on the determination of the biological composition of the air as a crucial part in the identification of etiological agent(s) that initiate diseases (particularly, Kawasaki disease). Further identification of the molecular pathways involved in the progression of these pathologies is within the scope of her interest.

Within a European Project Sofya will implement in vitro surrogate model of human lung organoids to determine the underlying molecular mechanisms of toxicity caused by a contaminated environment.

Lines of research

• Analysis of air microbiome
• In vitro lung model to assess the effects of air pollutants
• Molecular mechanisms activated by environmental contaminants