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

[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.

Eduardo M. García Roger is a lecturer and researcher at the Universitat de València, where he holds the position of full professor in the Department of Microbiology and Ecology. His teaching work includes Ecology courses in the degrees of Biology and Environmental Sciences and also in the master's degree in Biodiversity: Evolution and Conservation. 

Since his PhD, he has developed a research career focused on the evolutionary biology and ecology of aquatic populations, especially in temporary habitats such as ponds, pools and small intermittent watercourses in the Mediterranean region. Professionally, she carries out her research at the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, in the Evolutionary Ecology research group. Throughout his career, Dr. Eduardo M. García Roger has published more than 50 scientific articles in high impact international journals, such as Limnology and Oceanography, Scientific Reports, Freshwater Biology, Oikos, or Proceedings of the Royal Society. In addition, he has participated in more than 40 national and international scientific congresses and conferences, where he has presented advances on the adaptation of organisms to environmental unpredictability and the evolutionary mechanisms operating in temporary aquatic ecosystems. 

His research combines experimental design with field research and the development of theoretical models. Recently, he has been interested in the application of genomic tools to study adaptive processes in rotifer populations and other aquatic organisms. He has collaborated in research exploring the relationship between ecology and genetics, and has used models to explain the phenomenon of bet hedging in rotifer populations. 

Regarding his international experience, Dr. García Roger has carried out research stays in the United States and England, including a postdoc within an EU 7th Framework Programme research project at the University of Barcelona, which has broadened his perspective on the study of community and metacommunity ecology in temporary aquatic habitats. 

Since 2018 he is Vice-Dean of Studies at the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the Universitat de València.

Isaac Garrido Benavent (Quatretonda, 1988) has a degree in Biology from the Universitat de València (2011), a Master in Biodiversity-Botany Specialty from the University of Barcelona (2012), and a PhD in Biological Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2017). The PhD stage was sustained with the help of a University Teacher Training Grant (FPU), enjoyed at the National Museum of Natural Sciences, which belongs to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). He is currently a 'Profesor Permanente Laboral' at the Department of Botany and Geology of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the University of Valencia (2020). He is co-IP of a Knowledge Generation research project of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and has participated or participates in the research and work team of other six projects, highlighting one of National Parks (2023), a PROMETEO (Generalitat Valenciana, 2021), one related to Citizen Science (LiquenCity, FECYT, 2018) and another funded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN, 2021). His research encompasses different approaches to the diversity, taxonomy, phylogeny and phylogeography of lichenized fungi (lichens) and non-lichenized fungi, as well as lichenized algae, from Antarctic, bipolar and Mediterranean environments, which has resulted in 81 scientific publications in national and international journals, with approximately 50% indexed and 60% open access. He has also authored 76 contributions to national and international congresses, conferences and workshops. He collaborates with different national (MNCN-CSIC, RJB-CSIC) and international research groups from several European countries, Canada and China. He is a reviewer for numerous scientific journals, such as Journal of Biogeography and Microbial Ecology. He is also a reviewer of scientific projects and PhD grant proposals for the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) since 2018, as well as Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) postdoctoral contracts. He is a member of the scientific committee and editor of the Bulletin of the Societat Micològica Valenciana (SOMIVAL). He has taught courses on mycology and phylogeny in academic and sociocultural settings, and has been a guide in mycological excursions. Finally, and as the most significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge on the biodiversity of fungi and algae, he has been the author in the description of 22 new species of fungi and algae, from the Mediterranean to Antarctica, and also for these groups of organisms, a new order, four new genera, a new section and four new combinations.

Fernando Gonzalez Candelas, PhD (University of Valencia, 1987) is Professor of Genetics at the University of Valencia since 2006 and head of the “Evolution and Health” Research Unit at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology UV-CSIC (I2SysBio) at the same university. In addition, he has a joint appointment at the FISABIO-Public Health through the joint research unit “Infection and Public Health” with the University of Valencia and at the CIBERESP (Centre for Networked Research on Biomedicine – Public Health and Epidemiology).
    My main research interests are in population and evolutionary genetics, molecular and evolutionary epidemiology, molecular systematics and genomics, bioinformatics and conservation biology. I am currently working on the molecular evolutionary epidemiology of different pathogens, mainly RNA viruses, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and bacteria, such as Legionella pneumophila, Treponema pallidum, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Our basic approach is the analysis of nucleotide sequence variability at different levels, from intrapatient to world-wide samples, and from particular genes to complete genomes, depending on the specific goals of the different projects. Previously I have studied the population and evolutionary biology of Mediterranean endemic Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) species, by using an array of genetic markers (RAPDs, AFLPs, microsatellites, isozymes) and including the analysis of quantitative traits. I have published more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific papers and written two books.

[Biography, english version]

Enric Novella (MD, MA, PhD) is Associate Professor of History of Science at the University of Valencia. He is the author of the books Der junge Foucault und die Psychopathologie (Berlin, 2008), La ciencia del alma (Madrid/Frankfurt, 2013), El discurso psicopatológico de la modernidad (Madrid, 2018), and Las políticas de la locura (Valencia, 2023), and has also published several articles and essays on the history and philosophy of psychiatry, psychology and medicine in leading international journals such as Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, Health Care Analysis, Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, History of Psychiatry, Social History of Medicine, History of the Human Sciences, Paedagogica Historica and Medical History.

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.

Member of International Scientific Board UNESCO on Global Change

Vice-president of International Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy

President of Spanish National Committee IGCP UNESCO

Current project: Regenerating the Time Lords: Towards the completion, calibration, digitization and outreach of the geological time scale. Redefining the base of the Emsian; in search of the GSSP. Funding: International Union of Geological Sciences. Duration: 2020-2022. Main researcher

Leader of UV Research Group on Palaeozoic Palaeontology and Palaeogeography of invertebrates, vertebrates and plants (PALPALPAL), ref. GIUV2017-395.

https://www.uv.es/uvweb/servicio-investigacion/es/grupos-investigacion/grupo-1285949714098.html?p2=GIUV2017-395