Serena Lucotti
2012-2017
Effects of aspirin on experimental metastasis.
Prof Ruth Muschel

Dr Serena Lucotti was a CRUK Oxford Centre funded DPhil student from 2014 to 2017 supervised by Professor Ruth Muschel. During her DPhil, Serena studied the effect of aspirin and other anti-platelet drugs on cancer metastasis, which led her to discover a novel platelet signalling pathway that supports tumour cell dissemination through the bloodstream. Her work identifies new targets and therapeutic opportunities for the prevention of metastasis in cancer patients.
Following her DPhil, Serena continued her research as a postdoc, remaining in Prof Muschel’s Mechanisms of Metastasis group. She subsequently moved to a postdoctoral position at Weill Cornell Medicine, where she is currently based. Hear from Serena about her DPhil below:
What outcomes have resulted from your DPhil?
My DPhil was extremely productive in terms of personal and professional growth. I have learned and developed many diverse lab techniques and I have produced enough data to publish a first author paper in JCI among others. I am also currently preparing a further 2 first author papers and 3 co-author papers as a result of the work carried out in Oxford. Throughout my DPhil I have also initiated long-term collaborations with groups in Oxford and beyond (Queen Mary and King’s College/University of Bristol).