Donikë grew up in Switzerland and completed her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedicine at the University of Zurich (UZH). She continued her studies at UZH with a Master’s degree in Biomedicine, where she worked with ancient/historical DNA to investigate the evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. During her PhD in Evolutionary Biology at UZH, Donikë focused on the evolution of crop pathogens using herbarium genomics, aiming to understand how globalization and agronomic transformations shape pathogen population dynamics. She is currently the lab manager in the Avanzi Lab at the One Health Institute, where she supports laboratory diagnostics and contributes to leprosy genomics analyses.

Donikë enjoys pushing limits both in science and in her capsaicin tolerance, which naturally extends to her love of cooking.

Q. How many bands would you have if you were an armadillo?

A. 9