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.

Mathematician, statistician. Specialised in the analysis of longitudinal data or repeated measures through Bayesian inference. Strong interest in sport in general and sports analysis in particular.

Rosa Córdoba leads the advancement of cutting-edge Focused Ion Beam (FIB) applications, with a specific emphasis on: 

1. inducing nanoscale surface modifications in substrates and atomically-thin 2D materials,
2. designing topological and chiral nano-superconductors. 

Her primary research interests, encompassing 2D materials and heterostructures, low-dimensional magnetism, 3D nanosuperconductivity and FIB technology.

Dr. Córdoba is working as a "Ramón y Cajal" researcher in the Molecular Science Institute (ICMol) at the University of Valencia. 

She earned her Ph.D. in Physics in the study of magnetic and superconducting nanostructures fabricated through direct writing techniques based on focused beams of charged particles, University of Zaragoza in 2012. 

Subsequently, she undertook a 2-y postdoc position (2013-2015) at the Physics of Nanostructures (FNA) group in the Applied Physics Department at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), The Netherlands. She investigated the magnetism and ultrafast dynamics of magnetization and spin in nano-magnets. 

In 2016, with the support of a "Juan de la Cierva" grant, she joined the Institute of Material Science of Aragon (ICMA, Zaragoza, Spain), where she driven the use of FIB technologies to study 3D nanostructures. 

Since her affiliation with ICMol in 2019, she has focused on the study of 2D materials and heterostructures devices. She secured a Junior Leader project from the "la Caixa" Foundation (2019-2022) and served as the scientific co-coordinator of the 2D Materials research line in the "María de Maeztu" Excellence Unit (2020-2023). 

In 2021, she obtained a SEJIGENT project, Scientific Excellence Grants for Junior Researchers from the GVA (2021-2024), to develop "3D superconducting nanoarchitectures."  She is also co-PI of the coordinated project 2D-EASYMAG, subproject “Growth of van der Waals easy-plane magnets by molecular-beam epitaxy and the role of substrate interaction”, within the Research Spanish Program “Proyectos de generación de conocimiento” (2024–2026), funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades of the Government of Spain.

[Biography, english version]

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.

[ 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.
 

Carlos Martí-Gastaldo is a Spanish chemist (Premio Extraordinario de Licenciatura) who was

initially trained in Coordination Chemistry and Molecular Magnetism in E. Coronado´s group at

the ICMol-University of Valencia. He received his PhD in Chemistry in 2009 for his work on

‘Multifunctional Magnetic Materials by using Coordination Polymers and 2D Layered Inorganic

Materials’, that was recognized with the ‘Young Researcher Olivier Kahn Recognition’ awarded

by the European Institute of Molecular Magnetism, the ‘NanoMatMol Prize’ to the best thesis in

Nanoscience and Molecular Materials awarded by the GENAM group of the RSEQ, and the

‘Premio Extraordinario de Tesis’ awarded by the Universidad de València He then shifted his

focus to apply his training to the design of Metal-Organic Frameworks during his postdoctoral

stage as a Marie Curie Fellow in M. J. Rosseinsky’s group at the University of Liverpool (2010-

2012). During this postdoctoral stage he was awarded with the ‘Postdoc SusChem Prize’ to young

chemistry investigators by the RSEQ and the Spanish Technological Platform of Sustainable

Chemistry (2011).

He began his independent career in 2013 in Liverpool, with the award of a Royal Society

University Research Fellowship (~40 awarded in the UK annually). In 2014, he returned to the

ICMol with a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship (~15 awarded in Chemistry annually) to lead the design

of highly stable MOFs, one of the strategic research lines of the 1st ‘María de Maeztu’ Excellence

program awarded to the center. With the award of an ERC Starting Grant in 2016, he established

his own research group at the ICMol. The Functional Inorganic Materials team (FuniMAT) is

focused on the design and processing of porous inorganic materials for biological and

environmental-related applications. He founded the start-ups ‘Porous Materials for Advanced

Applications’ (2018) and ‘Porous Materials in Action’ (2021) to accelerate the transfer of research

results into socially useful products and services. He received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2021

and is one of the guarantor investigators of the 2nd ‘María de Maeztu’ Excellence program of

ICMol (2021-2024), and main responsible of the implementation of a new research line for the

Molecular Design of Biomaterials in the center.

His independent trajectory has been recognized with the ‘Excelencia Investigadora Prize by the

Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ) y BASF’ (2022), the ‘RSEQ-Sigma-Aldrich Young

Investigator Prize’ (2015), the ‘X Scientific-Technical Prize Ciudad de Algemesí’ for young

investigators awarded by Ayuntamiento de Algemesí (2015), and the VLC/StartUp Prize in two

editions (2022 & 2018) to the 2 start-ups created by the PI. Since 2021, Martí-Gastaldo also acts

as the Equal opportunities representative of the ICMol at the gender equality commission of the

‘Severo Ochoa’ Centres and ‘María de Maeztu’ Units of Excellence Alliance (SOMMa).

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.

Research career

My research career began during the last year of my Bsc in Biology at the University of Alicante (UA), where I carried out an experimental final degree project on virus-host interactions in hypersaline environments, under the supervision of Professor Josefa Antón. After that, I took several postgraduate courses focused on Microbiology and Biochemistry, including two official masters: one in Secondary School Teaching (UA) and another in Molecular, Cellular and Genetic Biology Research (Universitat de València, UV).

In 2015 I joined the Biotechnological Pest Control group (CBP) of the University Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (UV), where I developed a project in collaboration with the AFRASA S.A. industries, aimed at designing a bioinsecticide based on native strains of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) against lepidopteran pests. Later on, I obtained an FPU grant (training of university teachers), thanks to which I carried out a doctoral thesis focused on the biochemical basis of resistance to Cry1 and Vip3 proteins produced by Bt and their interaction with intestinal receptors in insect pests. The thesis, co-directed by Juan Ferré and Patricia Hernández Martínez, obtained the qualification of “Cum Laude” with “International Mention” and was later awarded with the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize in the area of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.

During this stage I carried out a research stay at the Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS, USA), where I applied genomic editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 to lepidopteran pests. I also established collaborations with international institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), the University of Tennessee or Imperial College London, which resulted in several publications as first author in scientific journals and award-winning presentations at national and international conferences.

After my PhD, I worked in different University-Industry agreements in the field of biological pest control, in collaboration with companies such as BASF and Bayer-CropScience. Currently, I am participating in an international project funded by the Human Frontier Science Program Organization, under the supervision of Cristina Crava, in collaboration with researchers from Peru, UK and Spain. In this framework, I have also supervised laboratory internship students. In addition, I have made a stay at the Francis Crick Institute (London), thanks to a José Castillejo grant (Ministry of Universities), where I studied the infection of the nervous system of Spodoptera exigua by baculovirus.

Throughout my scientific career I have consolidated a solid experience in molecular biology and entomology, especially in the interaction between lepidopteran pests and biological control agents such as B. thuringiensis and baculoviruses.

Teaching career

I have been actively involved in university teaching since my doctoral period, mainly in the Department of Genetics (UV), where I taught more than 300 hours of sessions, mostly practical, in subjects such as Genetics, Molecular Genetics, Molecular Methods in Biology and Criminal Analysis Techniques. These activities were developed in the degrees of Biotechnology, Biology and Criminology.

Recently, I have worked as a Substitute Professor, teaching theoretical and practical classes of Biochemistry in the degrees of Food Science and Technology and Gastronomic Sciences, experience that has allowed me to consolidate my teaching skills at the university level in an interdisciplinary environment.

I have always shown a strong commitment to teaching quality, so I enjoy participating in various training activities in innovative educational methodologies, digital tools and development of transversal competencies. This training has allowed me to incorporate updated and integrative approaches to my teaching practice, with special attention to scientific evidence and student motivation.

[Biography, english version]

Personal data

Name: JUAN J. TARIN

Phone: 963543221

Address: Email: juan.j.tarin@uv.es

Scientific identifier: Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID): 0000-0002-4436-5162

Current professional situation

Position: University Professor, in the area of knowledge Physiology (own area: 52 Functional Biology)

Start date: 2009

Organization / Institution: Universitat de València

Department / Center: Cellular Biology and Functional Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences

After a 3-year postdoctoral training abroad, he has been principal investigator in various research projects dedicated to deepening the identification of the long-term effects of post-ovulatory, maternal and paternal aging on offspring, as well as the cellular/molecular mechanisms involved in these effects. Also, she has participated in research projects focused on the regulatory effects of sex hormones and hormone replacement therapy on different parameters of cardiovascular risk and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women, cellular/molecular mechanisms involved in said effects, as well as fragility and integrated care of these and other chronic conditions related to the post-menopausal stage.