Ainhoa Arina PhD

Dr. Ainhoa Arina, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Ludwig Center for Metastasis Research. She received her undergraduate degree in Pharmacy at Universidad de Navarra (Pamplona, Spain). Her love for research and immunology was kindled as an undergrad during short stays in the labs of Ariel Rivas at Cornell University and Balbino Alarcon at CSIC (Madrid, Spain). She completed her Ph.D. in the field of tumor immunology with Ignacio Melero in CIMA (Pamplona, Spain), and leaped across the ocean to pursue postdoctoral studies in Hans Schreiber’s lab at the University of Chicago, before joining Ralph Weichselbaum’s lab, where she and the other immunologists in the lab try to convince radiation oncologists that immunology matters. She currently studies the mechanisms of intratumoral T cell radioresistance and explores ways to use her findings to improve cancer immunotherapy. Outside the lab, she may be found chasing her two young kids around, trying to replicate her mom’s excellent Basque cuisine recipes, hiking the rare hills that can be found near Chicago, or discussing the Human and the Divine with her friends.