Our People

Dr Ana Espirito Santo

Research Member of Common Room

Postdoctoral Researcher

Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Science

ana.espiritosanto@kennedy.ox.ac.uk

Ana completed her PhD in Dresden at the International Max Planck Research School for Molecular Cell Biology and Bioengineering. In 2011, she joined the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology as a Postdoctoral Researcher. During her time in academia, she has acquired knowledge in several areas of research, particularly in immunology, calcified tissue biology and more recently in stem cells and tissue regeneration field.

Over the past years she has been studying how alarmins, which are immune modulators released upon tissue damage, can improve tissue regeneration and more specifically how they promote and accelerate tissue healing by targeting endogenous stem and progenitor cells. Recently, Ana and her colleagues discovered that administration of HMGB1, even two weeks before injury, accelerates healing and regeneration of multiple tissues, including blood, bone and skeletal muscle.  Their work was recognised with multiple national and international awards, and presentations, and a publication in the leading journal, Proceedings of the Academy of National Science, and was selected as the Editor’s choice in Science Translational Medicine.

Ana helps coordinate, and collaborates on, different projects on the role of HMGB1 in tissue regeneration.