Research interests
• The role of cystatin F and cathepsins in anti-tumor immune response
•Evaluation of antitumor immune response and proteolytic system in 3D models using microfluidic systems

Research experience and education
2025– WG1 Leader of IMMUNOmodel Cost Action CA21135
2022– Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Biotechnology, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2019 – 2022: PhD junior researcher, Department of Biotechnology, “Jozef Stefan” Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia/PhD, Interdisciplinary doctoral programme Biomedicine, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2019-2020: Visiting Graduate Researcher, School of Dentistry, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
2018 – 2019: Research assistant, Department of Biotechnology, “Jozef Stefan” Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2012 – 2018: Uniform master’s study programme Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Awards and fellowships
• 2024: SBD scholarship for participation in ZIDAS 2024 (Switzerland’s Image and Data Analysis School), scholarship for participation in the EACR 2024 congress
• 2023: Scholarship for participation in the EMBL Hands-on Flow Cytometry workshop, scholarship for participation in the EMBL practical course Extracellular Vesicles: From Biology to Biomedical Applications
• 2022: Scholarship for participation in the EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics (ENA), scholarship for participation in the FEBS Advanced Course Proteolysis 2022
• 2020: YSF grant award for participation in 45th FEBS Congress and 20th Young Scientist Forum
• 2018: Winner of Regional BioCamp, Lek, Novartis

Past and current grants as PI
•ARIS Z3-50102: NK cell therapy for glioblastoma: Modulating cystatin F to improve efficacy, 2023-2025 €150,000