Elena Daoutsali started her PhD in NeuroD group in 2016. She did her Bachelor studies in Molecular Biology and Genetics in Democritus University of Thrace, in Greece and her Master studies in Pharmaceutical Sciences-Drug Innovation program in Utrecht University. During her research internships she got particularly interested in the cause and development of neurodegenerative diseases.
In her PhD, her research focuses on a rare hereditary brain disease called Dutch type-Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (D-CAA), both from the molecular pathology and therapy development aspects. Her first project involved the development and in vitro testing of antisense oligonucleotides (AONs) as a therapy for D-CAA. Currently she is trying to model D-CAA with cerebral organoids and unravel phenotypic differences of the disease with patient-derived cell models.