Professor Andrea Streit

Biography

Professor Andrea Streit studied Biology at the University of Cologne and obtained her PhD in Neurobiology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. She trained as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turku (Finland), the University of Oxford (UK) and at Columbia University, New York.

Professor Streit joined King’s in 2000, where her research group focuses on the development of vertebrate sense organs. Her primary interest is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that control cell fate decisions in the sensory nervous system, and how we can use this knowledge to promote regeneration and repair. Using multidisciplinary approaches her group studies the signalling and transcription factor networks that control how sensory stem cells diversify into eye, ear and olfactory cells and generate specialised cell types in each organ and how these networks were modulates as complex sense organs emerged during evolution. In addition, Andrea’s group explores the epigenetic mechanisms that control inner ear development and the regeneration of the sensory cells crucial for sound and balance perception.

Apart from leading an international team, Professor Streit is actively involved in PhD student affairs as postgraduate coordinator, mentoring schemes for junior faculty members and postdoctoral researchers, and has held various leadership roles in the Faculty including Dean for Research from 2013 – 2018. She has longstanding expertise in evaluating research quality serving as a member of international advisory boards and of UK research council grant panels.