Francesca Bolk holds a bachelor’s degree of science and a master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from Maastricht University. During her master’s Francesca wrote two thesis; one about the label free identification of inflammation in monocytes using machine learning and a second in which she used metabolic interventions as well as PNA delivery via Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for mutation load reduction in m.3243A>G patient-derived mesoangioblasts. Francesca graduated cum laude.

In 2019, she pursued a PhD in Cardiac Cell Biology at the University of Melbourne (located at MCRI) under the supervision of Prof. Enzo Porrello, A/Prof. David Elliott and Dr. James McNamara and supported by a Melbourne University Research Stipend and Fee Waiver Scholarship. The focus of her PhD was to delineate the role of the novel HCM-associated protein Alpha Kinase 3 (ALPK3) in the context of cardiac physiology, pathology, and protein quality control.

Using stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes as a model system she investigated the intracellular localisation and expression pattern through confocal microscopy and flow cytometry of hESC-derived cardiomyocytes as well as ALPK3s domain functionality and interaction partners through proteomics and site-directed mutagenesis assays. Francesca joined the Molecular Proteomics group in 2024 and is currently awaiting examination of her PhD thesis.