DrLarissa Zarate Garcia

Larissa has been Flow Cytometry Specialist in the South Kensington Campus since 2020. She is committed to delivering an excellent cell sorting service, providing user support, and creating a welcoming environment for facility users.

Larissa graduated in Biology at the University of Salamanca (Spain) and took a MSc in Human Assisted Reproduction at the Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad (València, Spain). She then obtained an EU Leonardo Da Vinci Training Programme seat and moved to Coimbra (Portugal) to improve her skills in IVF. At the same time, she became an expert in science communication by the Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura. Thanks to her multidisciplinary abilities she landed a PhD studentship at the University of Southampton (UK), where she studied the presence of germline stem cells in female adults, and the possibility that they give rise to competent eggs that can be used in IVF.

With extensive flow cytometry and cell sorting experience learned during her PhD, she joined the Royal Veterinary College in 2017 as Departmental Technician, and later the Imperial College London. Since then, she has developed excellent skills in sorting of non-mammalian samples and has contributed to creating an inclusive Imperial flow community through online networks.

When not in the lab, Larissa volunteers in the Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom SRUK/CERU, where she has contributed as director of the London Constituency and chair of the X International Symposium, among others. She is also engaged as board member in the London Cytometry Club.