Title: Visiting Senior Staff Scientist
Email: etopalid@fredhutch.org

Irini received a BS in Biology from the Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece in 1996. She then pursued a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine in the lab of the late George Thireos at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB), which is affiliated with the University of Crete. During her PhD, she investigated the role of chromatin remodeling and histone acetylation in transcription, using yeast as a model system. Following her doctoral work, Irini did a postdoc at the lab of Nobel laureate Marty Chalfie at Columbia University, where she used the nematode C. elegans to understand the development and function of a set of mechanosensory neurons. Upon completing her postdoctoral work, Irini joined the lab of Michael Ailion at the University of Washington, and more recently Jihong Bai’s lab at the Fred Hutch, where she made significant discoveries in the fields of neuromodulatory signaling and GRK signaling. During her time in the Ailion and Bai labs, Irini served as a staff scientist, conducting research, actively mentoring students, and writing papers and grants. More recently, Irini joined the Singhvi lab to study mouse astrocyte glia.  

Irini is from Athens, Greece and she has lived in Athens, NYC, and Seattle. Outside the lab, she enjoys watching movies, traveling to Greece, talking to her family and friends, and more recently biking and running.