Fitxa persona

I graduated in Biology in 2010, during my PhD (2011-2015) in the University of Valencia (UV) in Dr.Marcel·lí del Olmo Lab I investigated the mechanisms of stress response in budding yeast. This workresulted in 5 first author publications about the transcriptional control in response to osmotic stress and gave me extensive experience in yeast molecular biology, gene expression and stress signaling. I also did a 3-months short stay (Portugal) in the lab of Dr. Rodrigues-Pousada (ITQB, Oeiras, Portugal). During my first postdoc in Dr. Juan Carlos Igual Lab (UV, 2016-2017), I started to work in the mechanisms of cell cycle control. I discovered that Whi7 is a new transcriptional repressor of the G1/S transition, and that yeast cells rely on functional redundancy as security mechanism to ensure robust blockage of the G1 phase, mimicking what occurs in mammalian cells with the Retinoblastoma proteins family (Gomar-Alba et al., Nature Communications, 2017). Next, I did a comparative study to characterize the different regulation and function of the G1/S repressors, unveiling a major role for Whi7 repressor under cell wall stress response (Méndez*, Gomar-Alba*, et al., J. Cell. Sci, 2020. *co-first authors). In September 2017, I obtained a competitive postdoctoral fellowship (VALI+D, GVA) to join the Dr. Manuel Mendoza group (IGBMC, Strasbourg, France). During my 3 years of postdoc (France) in the Mendoza Lab I co-authored the first report of acetylation of Nuclear Pores Complexes as a mechanism to modulate Nuclear Pores functions and cell-specific cell cycle entry in yeast (Kumar et al., Nature Cell Biology, 2018). I also unveiled that the acetyltransferase Esa1 promotes mRNA export and cell cycle entry through NPC acetylation (Gomar-Alba et al., EMBO J, 2022). In addition, I contributed to several research lines in the team, published in the journals Nature Communications, Genetics and Frontiers in Genetics. In September 2020, I got a Juan de la Cierva Incorporación Fellowship to return to my home country as independent researcher, and joined the Lab of Dr. Juan Carlos Igual in Valencia. My current line of research investigates whether and how the functional specialization of Whi7 may be key to ensure the G1 brake under different stress conditions. We seek to identify the molecular mechanisms that connect the stress signaling pathways with the Start machinery, and characterize the impact of the G1 arrest for cell survival under stress. We also explore whether some of the Whi7 regulatory mechanisms in yeast may have a translation into the transcriptional repressors of the Retinoblastoma family in mammalian cells. I got funding as PI on this topic in both, autonomic and statal Research Projects: CIGE/2021/093; INVEST/2022/203, CIGE/2023/077, (GVA, IP) and PID2023-152985NB-100(Ministerio, CoIP). During these lasts years as PI, I supervised 1 doctoral Thesis (C. Ros Carrero, Excellent Cum Laude) and I am currently supervising 2 doctoral Theses (M. Sipiridon-Bodi and M. Leonarte-Calsalta). Works directly derived from these Theses are: Ros Carrero et al., EMBO Reports, 2024; Ros-Carrero et al., Cell Cycle, 2024 and Spiridon-Bodi et al., Cell Communication and Signaling, 2025.

International collaborations: Dr. Manuel Mendoza, IGBMC, Strasbourg France. Dr. Gilles Charvin, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France. Dr. Jennifer Ewald, Tübingen University, Germany. Dr. Sebastien Leon, Institut Jacques Monod, Paris, France.

Training capacity:

1 supervised PhD Theses. 2 more PhD Theses in progress.

4 supervised Master Theses (“Trabajo de fin de Máster”, experimental work)

9 supervised Final Undergraduate Projects (“Trabajos de Fin de Grado”)

Sexenios y quinquenios:

2 granted research "Sexenios" (granted every 6-years period). 2011-2017 and 2018-2023.

2 granted teaching "Quinquenios" (granted every 5-years period). The last was on 2024.

Scientific Dissemination: Associate Faculty Member of Faculty Opinions (f1000, 2019-present)

Public engagement with science: autonomic “Expociencia”, national "pint of science" and

international “Researchers' Night”.

Prizes and awards: 1) Marie Curie Individual Fellowships Seal of Excellence (France, 2018). Proposal 840223. The Role of Nuclear Pore Complex acetylation in nuclear organization; 2) 2nd Prize SEBBM Best publication for young researchers (Spain, 2018) 3) 3rd Prize in XI Premi Cientificotècnic Ciutat d'Algemesí for Young Researchers (Spain, 2016).

Excellence programs and Postdoctoral Fellowships

Juan de la Cierva Incorporación Fellowship, IJC2018/036206/I. Ministerio de Ciencia. 01/09/2020.

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Vali+D, APOSTD/2017/094. Generalitat Valenciana. 16/09/2017.

Postdoctoral Fellowship Ramon Areces. XXIX Convocatoria. 16/09/2017 (Renounced).

Reviewer for: Journal of Cell Biology, Current Biology, Frontiers in Physiology, Cell Reports, Plos Genetics, Current Genetics.