Eleonora Assarioti

Research

As a PhD student in the Immunogenomics group (Prof. Noel de Miranda) and the Bone Tumor group (Prof. Judith Bovée), I study the molecular and immune landscape of bone tumors using multi-omics approaches. My goal is to improve diagnostic accuracy, uncover new biology, and point toward therapeutic strategies for these rare cancers. My work relies on a range of molecular and spatial technologies from whole-exome sequencing to map somatic mutations and copy-number alterations and RNA sequencing to detect gene fusions, to spatial transcriptomics (Xenium) to resolve tumor architecture at single-cell resolution. Together, these approaches let me connect molecular features to cellular organization — and ultimately, to clinical outcomes.

Curriculum Vitae

I have a diverse background driven by a curiosity to understand the biological basis of health and disease, with a strong focus in research and computational methods. That curiosity started in behavioral neuroscience, moved into understanding the genetics behind traits and diseases, and eventually led me to cancer research, where I am now. Along the way, I completed two Research Master's degrees at VU Amsterdam, both graduating cum laude. During my first master's, in Cognitive Neuropsychology, I completed a six-month internship investigating embodied cognition using fMRI and EEG. During my second master's, in Genes in Behavior and Health, I completed a six-month internship at MIT at the Cordero Lab, building machine learning models to predict microbial traits from genomes, and a six-month internship at VU Amsterdam working in population metabolomics. In my current position, as a PhD candidate in the labs of Prof. Noel de Miranda and Prof. Judith Bovée, I use multi-omics and spatial technologies to study the molecular and immune landscape of bone tumors.