Dr Alejandra Tomas obtained her PhD in Biochemistry at UCL in 2003, where she worked on the elucidation of the cellular roles of the calcium- and membrane-binding family of annexin proteins.
She then took up a postdoctoral position at the University of Geneva Medical School, Switzerland, where she analysed diverse aspects of the regulation of insulin secretion in pancreatic beta cells, primarily related to the role of the cytoskeleton in insulin exocytosis and the relationship between the secretory and endocytic pathways.
In 2009 she joined the Department of Biochemistry at University of Geneva where she focused on the study of receptor trafficking along the endocytic pathway, an area of research she continued to develop at UCL following her move back to the UK in 2011.
In 2015, Alejandra was awarded a New Investigator Research Grant by the MRC to set up an independent research group at Imperial College London to study the role of membrane receptor trafficking in the modulation of signalling and function of pancreatic beta cells.
Since then, her laboratory has pursued a number of investigations based on the study of the spatiotemporal regulation of signalling of the GLP-1 receptor and other key receptors involved in the control of blood glucose levels and related metabolic parameters.