Foteini Hassiotou

Foteini Hassiotou graduated from the Aristotle University of Greece in 2005 with a B.Sc. in Biology and First Class Honours in Microbiology and Physiology. She started a PhD in Physiology at the University of Western Australia, which she completed in 2009. She then joined the Hartmann Human Lactation Research Group of the University of Western Australia conducting research into the physiology of breastfeeding and breastmilk stem cells. Foteini’s research has a dual focus, concentrating on (a) the properties of the maternal stem cells that are present in breastmilk and their biological role, and (b) mammary stem cells in health and disease. She aims at understanding the role of these cells for the breastfed infant and in the lactating breast, as well as using them as models in breast cancer research to elucidate how these cells are subjected to malignant transformation that leads to cancer.