Thessalia has been working in Marina Kleanthous's group for over a year and her experience includes participation in a 2 year PEYKA project titled "Familial Cancer in Cyprus" that involved the collection of DNA samples and molecular analysis of genes that predispose to familiar colorectal cancer as well as detection of protein expression. Thessalia, who has a MSc in Applied Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from University College London, will continue to work on the development of a non-invasive prenatal diagnostic method for thelassaemia by detection and analysis of cell free foetal DNA in maternal plasma using molecular techniques.