Rocio Sancho
Group Leader
Rocio is a Lecturer and Group Leader at the Centre for Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine (CGTRM) at King’s College London. Rocio Sancho obtained her PhD in immunology at the University of Cordoba (Spain). She completed her postdoctoral research in the Mammalian Genetics lab at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute where she specialised in studying intestinal tissue stem cells and their function in homeostasis and cancer.
As a Senior Scientist in the Adult Stem Cell lab at the Francis Crick Institute she turned her interests in mammalian cell differentiation to the study of cell fate decisions in adult pancreatic progenitors and began to explore their potential to treat diabetes.
Nienke Willemsen
Postdoctoral Researcher
Nienke is a post-doc at the lab of Rocio Sancho at the Centre for Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine. She is interested in the underlying mechanisms of pancreatic beta cell development.
Yu Yuan
Postdoctoral Researcher
Cara is a postdoctoral research associate in the Sancho Lab. Her research focuses on pancreatic development, immunology and islet transplantation strategies for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.
Teodora Manea
Postdoc
Thea graduated with a BSc Biochemistry degree from the University of York in 2017 and embarked on a PhD studying the role of deubiquitinase USP7 on NGN3 degradation during pancreatic development in the Sancho Lab. After completing her doctoral studies in 2022, she worked as a postdoc in the Marino Lab at Queen Mary University of London, investigating epigenetic changes in glioblastoma.
She then returned to the Sancho lab in 2025 for her second postdoc, working on improving the robustness of iPSC-derived beta islets, with the aim of bringing them one step closer to being a viable therapy for Type 1 Diabetes. Thea is funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation.
Elham Shadman Zanjani
Research Technician
Elly is a Research Technician at Rocio Sancho’s lab, focusing on induced pluripotent stem cell-based approaches for islet replacement therapies in diabetes. She completed her BSc in Neuroscience at King’s College London in 2013. She then obtained a Master of Research in Child Health at UCL in 2023 and developed an interest in stem cell research. Before joining the Sancho Lab, she worked as a Research Technician at UCL, Institute of ophthalmology.
Alexandra Kranck
PhD Student
Ali joined the lab as a research technician in 2024. In 2025, she embarked on a Wellcome Trust-funded PhD in the Sancho lab. She aims to create iPSC-derived islets that are hidden from the immune system by mutating key immune factors on the surface of the islets. She will then test the efficiency of this system in vitro and in vivo. Through this work, she hope to make islet transplantation more efficient.
Jenny Gehlen
Visiting Scientist
Jenny completed her PhD in the Sancho lab in 2025. She's been travelling the world in her van ever since!
Former members:
Alexandra Gonçalves
Research Assistant
Research Assistant at the Sancho Lab from 2017-2019. Currently doing a PhD at the University of Manchester.
Ana Maria Cujba
PhD Student
PhD student at the Sancho Lab from 2017-2021. Currently doing a PostDoc in Sarah Teichmann Lab at the Sanger Institute (Cambridge).
Theoni Demcollari
PhD Student
PhD Student in Sancho lab 2017-2022. Currently a medical writer at Decisive Consulting Ltd
Mario Alvarez-Fallas
Postdoc
Postdoc in Sancho lab from 2019 to 2022. Currently a Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham
Christopher Lambert
PhD Student
PhD in Sancho Lab between 2018 and 2021. Currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute
Cristina Garrone
PhD Student
PhD in Sancho Lab between 2021 and 2025. Currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Imperial College London
Sergio Pedraza-Arevalo
Postdoc
Postdoc in Sancho lab between 2020 and 2022. Currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Cordoba.
