Carmen Agustín Pavón was born in Valencia in 1980. She graduated in Biology in 2003 with Honours (Premio Extraordinario de Licenciatura), at the University of Valencia. She earned her PhD in 2008 in the same University, with a thesis about the neurochemistry of pheromone-guided sociosexual behaviours. Her thesis was granted the Best PhD Thesis Award (Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado). She completed her pre-doctoral training with a short stay at Università di Roma La Sapienza (Sep-Dec 2006).

After her PhD, she was hired as Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge (Jan 2009- Oct 2010), where she investigated the emotional regulation in non-human primates, with a focus on the role of the prefrontal cortex. She then moved to the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona (Nov 2011- Dec 2013) as Senior Postdoctoral Researcher to work in a team developing gene therapy for Huntington’s disease. She also collaborated with other projects dealing with animal models for neurological diseases. One of these projects resulted in a paper published in Nature Medicine, which received the Award for the Best Scientific Paper from Fundación Esteve in 2013. She moved with this team to Imperial College London (Jan 2014 – Sep 2014). In October 2014, she earned a Researcher Position at University Jaume I of Castellón, where she became Lecturer at the Medical Degree in September 2015. In October 2016, she came back to University of Valencia as Lecturer. Her lab is interested in the neurobiology of social behaviour, olfactory system and Rett syndrome. 

In addition to her research activity, Carmen is devoted to science communication. She won in 2011 the El·lipse Award for Scientific Communication (Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona) and greatly contributed to her research group winning the Award Banco Santander for Science Outreach at the University Jaume I in 2017.

She is a blogger at scientific platforms Naukas and Scilogs and she has published papers in a number of journals (Redes, Mente y Cerebro, Historia y Vida, Mètode). She has also organized or given talks at high schools, scientific cafés and other scientific communication events, such as the initiative “NeuroMascletà”, an event within the International Brain Awareness Week.

CV Paula Alepuz 

I studied Chemistry at the Universities of Alicante and Valencia, Spain, where I graduated with a distinction. In 1997, I obtained a Doctorate in Chemistry with Cum Laude from the University of Valencia. In my thesis, under the supervision of Dr Francisco Estruch, I characterised a new gene from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which encodes a protein involved in the genetic response to different environmental signals. During my PhD, I spent 5 months at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (USA) in the laboratory of Dr Kyle Cunningham, where I completed part of my studies. From 1998 to 2001 I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Vienna (Austria) in the laboratory of Dr Gustav Ammerer, funded by a long-term EMBO fellowship. During this time we discovered that the yeast MAPK Hog1, homologous to human p38, when activated in response to stress, binds to numerous genes in the nucleus and promotes the cell's transcriptional response. Our results were published in Molecular Cell, and during a second postdoctoral period at the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain) in the laboratory of Dr Francesc Posas, I was able to continue this project and we published articles in the EMBO Journal and Nature showing that Hog1 bound to genes recruits specific transcription factors and RNA polymerase II to activate transcription.

My career as an independent researcher began at the end of 2003, when I obtained a contract from the competitive Spanish Ramón y Cajal programme and returned to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Valencia. In 2009, I was appointed as a tenured university professor. In 2011 I was a visiting researcher at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, where I started collaborating with Dr Per Sunnerhagen, and since 2023 I have been a full professor at the University of Valencia. I lead the Eukaryotic Gene Expression: from DNA to Protein (EGE: DtoP) group, where we study gene expression with an integrated approach to the different stages, mainly gene transcription and mRNA degradation and translation. In recent years, we have focused our efforts on the function and targets of the translational elongation factor eIF5A, an evolutionarily conserved factor essential in all eukaryotic cells and implicated in diseases such as cancer, viral infection and ageing. In recent years, we have described the peptide motifs under the control of eIF5A, found new target proteins in yeast and mammalian cells, such as formins and collagens, that require eIF5A for their synthesis, and unravelled a molecular mechanism by which eIF5A controls mitochondrial function. Most of our work is done in collaboration with national and international scientific groups and are the result of the efforts of many PhD, Master's and graduate students.

As a summary of my research, I have published around half a hundred scientific articles, I have presented more than 60 communications at conferences, I have given invited lectures at different research centres in Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden, I have directed 13 national or local research projects and I have participated in another 10 projects, 3 of them international, I am currently a secondary proposer of the European action COST Translacore. I am a member of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM) and of the national research networks RNA Life and Spanish Yeast Network (REDIL). I also regularly review scientific manuscripts in journals such as Nature Communications, NAR or PNAS, among others. I am an editor of the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology and I regularly carry out evaluation tasks for national bodies such as the National Agency for Evaluation and Prospective Studies (ANEP) and the Andalusian Agency for Knowledge (DEVA-AAC), and international bodies such as the European Commission and national evaluation agencies, private foundations or universities in Poland, Uruguay, Belgium, Sweden, the UK or Austria. I have also been actively involved in teaching, management and training activities at the University of Valencia, where I have supervised doctoral theses, master's and bachelor's theses and many undergraduate laboratory placements.

I have combined the tasks of researcher and professor with those of mother. I have had two interruptions in my work due to the birth and bringing up of my daughter (2005) and son (2010).

Finally, I participate in the tasks of scientific dissemination to society through articles at different levels, interviews with local newspapers or television stations, lectures in highschools and primary schools, and the promotion of research among students, especially girls, through lectures and experiments in schools.

Código ORCID: 0000-0003-1472-2373

Researcher ID: F-7849-2016

Scopus Author ID: 6603311983

My academic formation is biochemistry. I did my thesis under Prof. Manuel Pérez Alonso's guidance, which led to the identification of the Drosophila gene muscleblind, the founder member of the Muscleblind-like (MBNL) family of alternative splicing regulators with critical roles in human genetic diseases such as myotonic dystrophy. After 6 years of postdoctoral training in Mary Baylies' laboratory at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, in 2001 I returned to Spain with a Ramón y Cajal research contract and started my independent research career at the University of Valencia where my overarching goal is to understand the mechanisms of pathogenesis and to discover therapeutic targets and innovative treatments of human genetic diseases, with a particular focus in myotonic dystrophy. To this end, we use human samples and animal and cell models to understand the molecular basis of disease, perform drug repurposing screenings, and evaluate the activity of oligonucleotide-based drugs. We actively seek a close relationship with clinical researchers and biotech companies.

[Biography, english version]

As a university student (Universitat de València, UV), I belonged to the research team awarded with the prize “Certamen de Jóvenes Investigadores” with a proposal about polymorphisms associated with alcoholism (1993). I got my degree in Biology (1993) and my dissertation about Usher syndrome” (1998) was awarded as the best doctoral thesis by ONCE - UV. With this study, I initiated my career on genetics of rare Mendelian diseases. The main scientific contributions were the characterization of genetic bases of Usher syndrome in clinical series and the estimate of prevalence in Spain. My postdoctoral period started in the Unit of Congenital Bleeding Disorders at the University Hospital La Fe (1998-2003), where I got a fellowship from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII). I collaborated on research lines focused on genetics of hemophilia A and B, coagulation FVII deficiency and von Willebrand disease as a postdoctoral researcher. I participated in the genetic study of cohorts of Spanish patients with several coagulopathies. In 2003, I moved to the Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia – CSIC where I collaborated with open research lines focused on genetics of ataxias, peripheral neuropathies and movement disorders. I described for the first time the genetic bases of an ultrare disease: uroconase deficiency. I started as a group leader with my Miguel Servet I (MSI, 2009-15), and with the first grants, I initiated my own research lines. In 2014, I was evaluated and obtained the MSII contract as PI (2015-18). My group provided new data to better understand the disease mechanism of Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 4C (CMT4C); to characterize genetics associated with CMT and generate genetic tools for diagnosis; to discover junctophilin as a genetic modifier of CMT2K; and to establish MORC2 as a new gene involved in CMT2Z. I initiated new lines focused on the molecular bases and biomarkers for NBIA (Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation) and Wilson’s disease (WD). I participated in the development of a new clinical scale for NBIA patients as well as the description of the genetic bases. My group reported the genetics of clinical series of WD and detected a miRNA profile as biomarkers (patent).

During these years as MS researcher and group leader, I got projects funded by public or private institutions such as ISCIII, IRDiRC, CNAG, Foundation La Marató TV3, Foundation Ramón Areces, Foundation Per Amor a l'Art, AFM-Téléthon and EASIGenomics. Recently, I was awarded with my sixth national public project funded by the ISCIII (PI24-00017).

Technological development activities, in 2012, I moved my MSI contract to the Hospital U. La Fe where I created the Neurogenetics Platform, a service in which we offered genetic analysis of rare hereditary neuropathies. In 2013, I moved to the CIPF where, do I ran my own group and also worked in the Service of Genomics and Translational Genetics (SGGT), in which I carried out genetic analysis of rare neuropathies. In 2016, we generated a gene panel for hereditary peripheral neuropathies that we traded in the service. I was the SGGT’s director from 2015 until its closing in 2021.

In 2024, I obtained a teaching position in the Genetics Department of the University of Valencia where I currently carry out my teaching and research activities.

I work close with PAOs (patient advocacy organizations): (1) I belong to the scientific board of the Spanish PAOs on Wilson disease (AEFE Wilson) and ataxias (FEDAES), and I usually collaborate in meetings with others (ADIBI, ASVAH). (2) I am the chair-woman of AITER (consortium with 15 institutions for the Translational Research in Rare Diseases in Valencia). (3) I organize since 2016, the National Conference of Female Researchers in Rare Diseases, which binds science, women and rare diseases, and aims to bring science about rare diseases made by women closer to citizens.

Dr. García-Murria is a specialist in protein biochemistry with extensive interdisciplinary experience in biochemistry, molecular biology, proteomics, cell biology, and microbiology. She completed her doctoral thesis in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Valencia, during which she conducted two research stays at the Uppsala Biomedical Center of Uppsala University. Subsequently, she held a four-year postdoctoral position in the Proteomics Service at the Prince Felipe Research Center of Valencia. Upon returning to the University of Valencia, she initially worked in the area of Plant Molecular Biology and eventually joined the Membrane Proteins Laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She currently conducts her research activities focusing on the biogenesis, insertion, folding, and assembly of membrane proteins in the lipid membrane, as well as the role of transmembrane segments of human or viral proteins in apoptotic processes.

In the academic field, has been involved in university teaching since her thesis. She achieved the highest rating of excellence, scoring (200/200), in both the teaching quality evaluations as university professor, conducted from (2002-2018) and (2019-2023) by the National Agency for Evaluation and Acreditation (ANECA). Every year, she participates in several courses to improve her professional skills and teaching abilities. Since 2016, she has participated in the Motivem ideas competition, aimed at enhancing student employability through the motivating action of the teaching staff. Additionally, she is the president of the Biotechnology Undergraduate Thesis Committee and currently serves as the Secretary of the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Valencia.

I have a degree in Chemistry specialising in Biochemistry from the Universitat de València (UV, 1994). I spent 5 months in the Goerlaeus laboratories of the University of Leiden (Netherlands). After graduating, I joined the Department of Genetics of the UV, where I did my doctoral thesis with an FPI Scholarship from the Generalitat Valenciana, obtaining my doctorate in 1999. During that period, I made a short stay (1996) at the Institute of Biotechnology of Cuernavaca (Mexico). I have done postdoctoral stays in different centers of recognized prestige, IATA (CSIC) (1999). Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (UV) (1999-2002) and EMBL (Grenoble, France, 2002-2004), with a Specialization Scholarship in International Organizations. Later I joined the Department of Genetics of the UV, with a postdoctoral fellowship Carmen and Severo Ochoa (2007-2009) and from 2009 to 2012 with a contract as a Senior Research Technician. In 2012 I competed and obtained a position as Associate Professor Dr and in 2017 as University Professor.

TEACHING ACTIVITY: Since 1996 I have taught in 21 different subjects, covering undergraduate or undergraduate students from second to master's degree. I have taught these classes in 2 degrees (Biology and Chemistry) and in 6 different degrees: Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences (· BCB, 5), Biotechnology (BT, 5), Biology (Biol, 1), Double Degree Law-Criminology and Degree in Criminology (DC or C, 4) and in two master's degrees: Master in Molecular, Cellular and Genetic Biology (1) and Master in Bioinformatics (2).  I am currently coordinator of external internships of students in companies for the Degree in Biotechnology and I have the Quality Mention as a tutor of these practices. Since March 2018 I am Vice-Dean of Innovation and Quality of the Faculty of Biology. I have directed 13 final degree projects in the degrees of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology and Criminology, 6 Master's Final Projects, and the Doctoral Thesis of Dr. López-Galiano: Identification of miRNAs with predictive value as biomarkers of biotic and abiotic stress in plants of agronomic interest. 26.03.2021 and I am co-directing another. I have recognized three five-year teaching periods

EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION ACTIVITIES: Since 2018 I have participated in 12 teaching innovation projects with 6 participations in congresses or educational days

RESEARCH CAREER: In my research career I have mainly addressed the field of pathogen-host interactions from a multitude of approaches, both in terms of the range of organisms (bacteria-insects, phages-bacteria, insects-plants, viruses-humans) and the type of approach, from purely molecular and basic research (phage structures, protein-protein interactions or biochemical characterization of the mode of action of toxins) to those of clinical or field application.  I have recognized three six-year periods of research. In 2014, I participated in the Potato Beetle genome annotation project, within the i5k initiative: genome sequencing of 5000 arthropods.

TRANSFER ACTIVITY: I am co-inventor of two patents: P0201030569- Increase in the expression of recombinant sequences in eukaryotes and ES27176855- Peptide and pharmaceutical compositions of the same for use as an antimicrobial and in the treatment of cancer. I have participated in the Innosalud (2020) and Innotransfer (2020,  2021) programs  .

PEER REVIEW AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES Since 2009 I have participated as a reviewer in: Letters in  Applied Microbiology, Journal of Applied Microbiology, Cells, Plant Cell Reports, IJMS, BAOJ Biotechnology ... I participate as an external Evaluator for the National Agency for Evaluation and Foresight (ANEP) since 2015, for the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (IVACE) since 2019 (21 business projects evaluated) and for the UV-Ministry of Universities, for the evaluation of the University Requalification System program (2021).

DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES. Member of the Organizing Committee of Climathon-Burjassot 2019 (Climate Kick-UV), and Hackaton AgrotecUV (2021). Member of the organizing committee and the scientific congress  (Innocampus-Explora project) Innocovid19 (2020) and Innofuturo (2021 ).

[ Automatic translation ]

Óscar Maciá has a degree in Physical Sciences from the University of Valencia (2002) and a Doctor in Toric Physics from the University of Valencia (2007). He currently works as a university professor (2023), assigned to the Department of Mathematics (Area of Geometry and Topology) of the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences of the University of Valencia. He is a member of the UV Geometric Analysis research group (GAGUV).
His research deals primarily with differential geometry, often inspired by problems arising in theoretical physics. Generally, it focuses on the study of varieties endowed with some additional structure (Riemannian, complex, etc.) defined through the action of a Lie group. Topics covered include: quaternionic and exceptional geometry, harmonic maps, manifolds with special holonomy, spinors, differential operators, and complex geometry.
In these areas he has participated in multiple national and international research projects.
 

He studied Biology and Philosophy simultaneously at the University of Valencia, obtaining his Ph.D. in Biology in 1983 and Philosophy (Extraordinary Award) in 1988. He did his postdoctoral stay in 1985-1986 with a Fulbright grant at the University of California at Davis (USA). He had been visiting professor at the University of California at Irvine (USA) in 1988 and 1994, and in 2019 professor on a sabbatical stay with a Fulbright grant at Harvard University. In 1986 he created the Evolutionary Genetics group in the Dept. of Genetics at the University of Valencia, where he has been a professor since 1993. He was the director of this Dept. from 1995 to 1998. He has been the promoter of the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Valencia and its director from its creation in 1998 until 2010. He has also been a promoter of the Astrobiology Center (INTA-CSIC) and the Centro Superior de Investigación en Salud Pública de la Conselleria de Sanidad del Gobierno Valenciano (CSISP), of which he was its director in 2012. The CSISP was integrated into the Valencian Foundation for Promoting Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community, FISABIO. He was the FISABIO-Public Health division's scientific director from 2013 until July 2014. Since August 2014, he has directed, within FISABIO, the FISABIO Chair for the Promotion of Biomedical Research, an Institutional Chair of the University of Valencia.

He is the author of about 600 publications, including scientific articles, reviews, book chapters, and books on Genetics, Evolution, and Philosophy (20,700 citations, h-index of 74). He has participated in several patents and created a spin-off company. Experimental evolution of viruses and genomics and metagenomics of bacteria and microbial communities represent the research areas where he has made the most significant scientific contributions. He introduced Genomics in Spain, and his group sequenced the first genome of a bacterium, entirely carried out in Spain. He has done extensive work in disseminating and reflecting on science and has published several books on evolutionary theory and the scope of evolutionary thought. He currently focuses his research on symbiosis, mainly studying the human microbiome and other organisms from an evolutionary, systems biology, and synthetic biology perspective. He has supervised 35 doctoral theses, and many national and foreign scientists have been trained in his research group. He has received competitive funding from regional, national, European, and international agencies and has been the principal investigator of national, European, and international projects.

He has given lectures and courses in European countries, Latin America, the United States, and Asia. He has formed or is a member of commissions of research evaluation agencies in Spain and its autonomous communities, different European and Latin American countries, and the European Union.

He is a member of several scientific societies, founder of the European Society of Evolutionary Biology, the Spanish Society of Virology, and the Spanish Society of Evolutionary Biology, of which he has been its president. He is editor-in-chief, associate editor, or editorial board member of several scientific and philosophical journals.

He has received the following distinctions: the City of Barcelona Award for Scientific Research (1996), "Fellow" of the "American Association for the Advance of Science" (1998), the Diario Médico Award (2006), Diploma of the President of the Valencian Government for Excellence in Biomedical Research (2010), National Genetics Award (2012), Lilly Award in Preclinical Biomedical Research (2013), Mexico Award for Science and Technology (2015), Dr. Honoris Causa by the Menéndez Pelayo International University (2016), Advisor to the Gadea Foundation (2017), Maestro Andrés Laguna Award (2019), Alberto Sols Award for Research in Health Sciences (2022).

Ferran Palero holds a PhD in Biology (University of Barcelona, 2008) and an MSc in Mathematical Research (UPV, 2009). He has completed postdoctoral research in Austria (Institute of Science and Technology, 2009-2011), France (National Institute of Agronomic Research, 2012-2014), Blanes (Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes, 2014-2016) and Poland (University of Lodz, 2017-2019). He is currently developing his BIOPACKS research project as a "CIDEGENT" Researcher at the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (ICBIBE, University of Valencia). The BIOPACKS project (BIOdiversity Patterns of Crustacea from Karstic Systems) focuses on the study of groundwater aquatic fauna incorporating new molecular methods in order to discover molecular adaptations and new enzymes with potential biotechnological application.

I obtained my Bachelor, Postgraduate and PhD degrees in the University of Valencia, Spain. My doctoral research focused on the role of pattern recognition receptors expressed by hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in the detection of Candida albicans and the emergency myelopoiesis response. I was awarded with a “Outstanding PhD Thesis” from the University of Valencia.

In 2011, I joined the Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, USA, as a postdoctoral fellow. During this time, I studied the differentiation and function of myeloid cells (macrophages, dendritic cells and neutrophils) with specific application to anti-microbial immunity, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. I obtained a Young Investigator Award from the International Endotoxin and Innate Immunity Society, a Careers in Immunology Fellowship Award by The American Association of Immunologists and a Career-Enhancement Award from the American Society of Hematology.

In 2018, I established my independent research group at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as an Assistant Professor. In 2019, I received a Ramón y Cajal award from the Ministry of Education and Science, Spain, and I moved back to the University of Valencia, Spain.

My lab is interested in: 1) defining the cellular and molecular pathways activated for emergency myelopoiesis in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells during candidiasis, 2) unveiling the mechanisms of innate trained immunity induced by fungal infections, and 3) studying the use of microbial components to induce terminal differentiation of malignant cells in some hematologic disorders, such as acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.