Meet our partners
Six research centres and one pharmaceutical company fighting against WNV
Spain
IrsiCaixa was created as a private non-profit foundation in 1995. More than 30 years later, with a substantial accumulation of knowledge, IrsiCaixa has emerged as a leading force in the field of infection and immunity. While maintaining a steadfast commitment for eradicating HIV, over 200 committed researchers at IrsiCaixa apply their expertise to investigate other clinically significant viral, bacterial, and fungal infections. Examples include COVID-19, West Nile virus, syphilis, Ebola, respiratory syncytial virus, and multidrug-resistant bacteria. Furthermore, IrsiCaixa applies its understanding of the role of microorganisms and the resulting immune disorders to address medical challenges such as cancer, Alzheimer, aging, and the microbiome.
Two groups of Barcelona Supercomputing Center will participate in the project:
- The Computational Biology group has years of experience conducting protein studies based on their sequences and structures. It also has broad expertise in the application of ML and AI techniques in the field of structural bioinformatics and protein interactions.
- The Electronic and Atomic Protein Modeling group has profound experience in protein engineering and stabilisation. They have also developed state of-the-art tools in immunoinformatics and vaccine design. The combined know-how of these leading academia groups will serve as a basis for the successful in silico design of the immunogen candidates.
The Centre for Genomic Regulation is a research institute with scientists from more than 40 countries. It is the first Spanish research centre and the third Spanish entity in H2020- SC1-Health, and it manages 71 projects in FP7, and approximately 100 projects in H2020. The Protein Technologies Unit (PTU) provides the researchers at the CRG-CNAG/PRBB, external institutions and private companies with a new, high quality technology platform to perform protein production and characterization and automated processes in the context of biomolecular and biochemical screening assays.
HIPRA is a biotechnological pharmaceutical company focused on prevention for animal and human health, with a broad range of highly innovative vaccines. It has a wide experience in working with 300 different pathogens. So, it is very aware of the pathologies that could also affect humans as their etiologic agents are zoonotic. In the animal health area, HIPRA develops vaccines for both livestock-and-companion animals. Moreover, HIPRA has recently achieved registering the BIMERVAX® vaccine in the EMA, a vaccine intended to protect humans against the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19. This demonstrates its experience in developing and registering vaccines for human health.
France
Université de Montpellier is a research-intensive university where education and research cover most of the Scientific and Technological fields. Research at UM is structured into 74 laboratories most of which are in partnership with well-recognized French research organizations such as CNRS, INSERM, IRD, INRA or CIRAD. UM also comprises 16 technology platforms and services centres offering access to the state-of the-art research facilities for its researchers and research groups.
Germany
The Technische Universität Braunschweig was founded in 1745 and is the oldest university of technology in Germany. The university is member of “TU9 German Universities of Technology”, an alliance of the leading German universities of technologies.
Denmark
The Kloverpris lab has vast experience in studying immune response to viral infections in human blood and tissue. A key aspect of this work is their human tonsil organoid model, based on already approved ethical protocols, that they will utilise to study the immune response to viral and vaccine candidates relevant to a human in vivo setting.
Researchers
IrsiCaixa
Jorge Carrillo
Coordinator of the project
IrsiCaixa – WP5 & WP6 Leader
Jorge Carrillo - Coordinator of the project | IrsiCaixa
In 2009 he joined Dr. Julià Blanco’s group at IrsiCaixa, under the auspices of the Sara Borrell post-doctoral programme, in order to launch a new research line addressing B-cells and humoral response in the course of HIV-1 infection. His work here covered three different but interlinked topics: alterations in the biology of B-cells caused by HIV-1 and other diseases; new methodologies to identify and produce broadly neutralizing antibodies and, finally, HIV-1-based immunogens capable of generating broadly neutralizing humoral responses. In 2013 he joined the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, USA), where he worked with Dr. Andrea Cerutti, an internationally recognized researcher in the field of B-cells and mucosal immunology. In January 2014 he joined Dr. Denise Naniche’s group at the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB), where he worked on characterizing the humoral response and identifying inflammatory biomarkers that enable a better definition of early-stage HIV-1 infection. In November 2015, Dr. Carrillo was appointed associate researcher in IrsiCaixa, and in May 2020 he was designated as senior principal investigator creating the Immunology Group (IgG) at IrsiCaixa. In addition, he is working as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) in AlbaJuna Therapeutic, an IrsiCaixa’s spin-off focused on the development of broadly neutralizing proteins against HIV-1 to be used in cure strategies.
Julia G. Prado
IrsiCaixa- WP4 Leader
Julia García Prado - IrsiCaixa
Julià Blanco
IrsiCaixa – WP3 & WP4
Julià Blanco Arbués - IrsiCaixa
Julià Blanco (PhD in Biochemistry, University of Barcelona (UB), 1994) leads the Cell Virology and Immunology (VIC) group at IrsiCaixa. He has extensively studied the role of the HIV envelope glycoprotein (Env) in virus-cell or cell-to-cell interactions and HIV cytopathicity in a translational environment. In vivo, he has explored the mechanisms involved in CD4 T-cell depletion, analysing the contribution of virological and immunological factors that modulate CD4 and B-cell survival.
In parallel, his team has developed experimental models for the analysis of cell-to-cell HIV transmission and Env-induced cell death. Knowledge generated regarding the Env function has also proved useful in analysing anti-Env drug and anti-Env antibody mechanisms of action and in contributing to a better understanding of antibody protection from HIV acquisition and spread.
Dr. Blanco is co-founder of AlbaJuna Therapeutics SL, an IrsiCaixa spin-off whose main activity is the development of synthetic antibodies against HIV, and associate professor at the Chair of Infectious Diseases and Immunity of UVIC-UCC.
Nuria Izquierdo
IrsiCaixa – WP4
Nuria Izquierdo - IrsiCaixa
Nuria Izquierdo-Useros is a biologist trained in Madrid (Spain) with a strong interest in virology, cell biology, and translational applications. During her PhD she began a new research line focusing on HIV-1 pathogenesis mediated by dendritic cells. Next, she was funded with a José Castillejo fellowship to do a postdoc with Prof. Dr. HG Krausslich at Heidelberg University (Germany). In 2012, she returned to IrsiCaixa, where she was awarded with one out of the six Mathilde Krim Fellowships given worldwide by the Foundation for AIDS Research amfAR.
Since 2020 she leads a group focused on Pathogen Immunity, Signaling & Therapeutic Applications (PISTA) at IrsiCaixa. The team aims at combating emergent pathogens, so they immediately devoted all efforts to tackle SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The team has established a validated viral neutralization assay used for the regulatory approval of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine of HIPRA (Bimervax) by the European Medicine Agency (EMA) and is currently involved in clinical trials to test the efficacy of novel vaccines against emergent viruses. Many of the strategies and protocols implemented to study coronaviruses have also helped the group to fight other threats, including M pox virus and the respiratory syncytial virus. Now we want to contribute to the design of a novel vaccine against WNV within the LWNVIVAT project.
Laia Vives
IrsiCaixa- WP9
Laia Vives Adrián - IrsiCaixa
Eudald Vehí
IrsiCaixa – WP4
Eudald Vehí Piqué - IrsiCaixa
María Lázaro
IrsiCaixa – WP4
María Lázaro Díez - IrsiCaixa
Dr. María Lázaro Díez holds a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology and obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine with Honors from the University of Cantabria in 2018, studying host-pathogen interactions in the multidrug resistant bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii. In 2019 she got a postdoctoral position at University of California San Diego (US) to investigate acne bacterial pathogenesis and the development of vaccines against this disease in a novel in vivo model. In 2021, she joined CSIC in Pamplona (Spain) and worked in a public-private collaboration to develop new antimicrobials against bacterial biofilms. In 2023 she joined the group Virievac at IrsiCaixa as a post-doctoral researcher and focused her research on the development of novel immunotherapies against HIV-1, specially to recover functional T-cell responses.
During her scientific career, she attended and presented her work in national and international conferences, authored 23 scientific articles, reached a H-index of 10 and filed one patent. She had participated in the training of several students at different levels (master, PhD…) to mentor them in both theorical and laboratory skills. Also, she had been involved in the organization and development of public scientific divulgation sessions as Science Week or European Night of Researchers.
Raúl Pérez
IrsiCaixa – WP4
Raúl Pérez Caballero - IrsiCaixa
He has transferred his knowledge in parasite immunology and host-parasite interaction to characterize T-cell responses in SARS-CoV-2 infection in hybrid immunity and, with Dr Prado, coordinates the COVID-19 research line. Dr. Pérez-Caballero has published 17 articles in Q1 and D1 international journals, 4 book chapters and accumulated an H-index of 8. He trained master’s and graduate students from national and international universities and now co-directs a PhD thesis.
Mª Luisa Rodríguez
IrsiCaixa- WP5 & WP6
Mª Luisa Rodríguez de la Concepción - IrsiCaixa
Dr María Luisa Rodríguez graduated in Biology from the University of Barcelona (UB) in 2000. She joined the Mitochondrial Protein Genetics and Pathologies research group attached to the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (UB Faculty of Biology), where she completed her PhD in Biology in 2004 under the direction of Dr Francisco Villarroya and Dr Marta Giralt. Her dissertation was on the subject of adipocyte differentiation and regulatory factors in mitochondrial biogenesis and the effects of antiretroviral drugs.
From 2005 to 2010 she worked as a senior laboratory technician in Cell Signalling research group — led by Dr Francesc Posas — attached to the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences of Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). During this period, she worked as laboratory manager and carried out research within several different projects.
She started working in IrsiCaixa in 2012, joining the Cell Virology and Immunology (VIC) research group led by Dr Julià Blanco. This group, using the HIV envelope protein as a starting point, studies the humoral response to the viral envelope and develops new tests to identify protective and non-protective responses. It has developed two platforms for virus-like particles and proteoliposomes aimed at producing HIV vaccines that generate protective antibodies. Dr Rodríguez provides research support to different group projects and actively participates in the development and implementation of a technique aimed at isolating, producing and characterizing specific monoclonal antibodies from B cells in human and murine models.
Dàlia Raïch
IrsiCaixa – WP4
Dàlia Raïch Regué - IrsiCaixa
Dàlia Raïch Regué studied Biotechnology (2008) and obtained her PhD (2012) in Immunology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The focus of her research has been the translational immunology. Her doctoral thesis dissertation concerned development of dendritic cell-based therapy for tolerance induction in multiple sclerosis patients, acquiring a strong background in human immunology. Her work contributed to the start of a clinical trial with multiple sclerosis patients.
Then she moved to Pittsburgh (PA, USA) to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the T.E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, Dep. Immunology of University of Pittsburgh. For three years, she investigated the effects of novel mTORC1/2 inhibitors on dendritic cell function as well as the tolerance mechanisms promoted by cell therapy in renal-transplanted non-human primates. Her research was funded by an ESOT/AST collaborative research grant (July 2012-2013) and a Thomas E. Starzl Postdoctoral Fellowship (July 2013-2015). In 2017 she was funded by a Sara Borrell fellowship from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (2018-2020) to study both the cellular and humoral immune response on renal-transplanted patients at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute – IMIM (Barcelona). In February 2021 she joined Nuria Izquierdo-Useros group to apply her expertise and to develop new therapeutic strategies for SARS-CoV-2.
Eloi Franco
IrsiCaixa – WP4
Eloi Franco Trepat - IrsiCaixa
Eloi Franco Trepat professional career started in oncology therapeutics (Hospital Sant Pau; Spain), cell fate modulation (CSIC-IRTA-CRAG; Spain), and stem cell microenvironment (RIKEN; Japan). In 2016, he became the first founding member of the Musculoskeletal Pathology Group (Institute IDIS-CHUS) where he developed his career as medical science researcher as well as project and laboratory manager. Eloi F.T. led several research lines focused on blocking Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs) and inhibit the innate immune response in autoinflammatory & autoimmune diseases. Additionally, he co-led research lines in biomaterials and natural products.
His interest in antivirals and immunomodulators started during the SARS-CoV-2 and extended to other emergent viruses after staying in Serekunda (The Gambia). He has joined the Pathogen Immunity, Signalling and Therapeutic Applications (PISTA) group led by Dra. Nuria Izquierdo Useros to contribute designing new therapeutic tools against emerging pathogens.
Francesc Cunyat
IrsiCaixa – WP3 & WP4
Francesc Cunyat Viaplana - IrsiCaixa
Francesc graduated in 2008 in Biotechnology and Biochemistry from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He pursued a Master’s in Biomedical Research (BIOMED) in 2019 at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and then joined the IrsiCaixa Institute to pursue a PhD in Immunology under the supervision of Dr. Cecília Cabrera (2008-2012). His doctoral studies allowed him to identify the causes of the low cytopathogenicity found in certain strains of HIV resistant to an antiretroviral drug. These results explained the observed clinical discrepancy between viral load and CD4 lymphocyte count in patients infected with these viral strains.
Subsequently, he carried out a postdoctoral stay in the research group of Dr. Mario Stevenson at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine (2012-2016). His postdoctoral projects focused on investigating the role of macrophages in the viral reservoir of chronically HIV-infected patients treated with antiretrovirals. To do this, he participated in clinical trials analyzing lung samples and liver biopsies and collaborated with the pharmaceutical industry to determine if certain oncological drugs could be used as eradication therapy for this reservoir.
In 2016, he joined Albajuna Therapeutics as a lead scientist, a spin-off of IrsiCaixa, to develop a therapeutic vaccine against HIV based on Fc fusion proteins. During this period, he was involved in molecule selection, development, establishing processes for bioanalysis, and designing and analyzing preclinical studies to test it.
Recently, in 2023, he joined Dr. Julià Blanco’s Virology and Cellular Immunology Group (VIC) at IrsiCaixa as an associate researcher.
Nuria Pedreño
IrsiCaixa – WP5 & WP6
Nuria Pedreño López - IrsiCaixa
Dr. Pedreño joined IrsiCaixa in 2021. At the Immunology group (IgG), which is directed by Dr. Jorge Carrillo, she studies the mechanism that causes COVID-19 illness.
Marina Matilla
IrsiCaixa – WP5 & WP6
Marina Matilla Martínez - IrsiCaixa
Marina Matilla Martínez graduated with a Microbiology degree at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 2022. The same year she started her master’s degree in Advanced Immunology at UB-UAB and graduated in 2023. During her formative years, she had the chance to participate in different research projects that introduced her to the research field. Before joining IrsiCaixa, she completed her master’s thesis in the development of an immunotherapy based in chimeric autoantibody receptors at Hospital Clinic de Barcelona.
In January 2024 she joined the Immunology group (IGG), led by Jorge Carillo, to continue her career as a predoctoral researcher working on the development of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus vaccine.
Rosina Malagrida
IrsiCaixa – WP9
Rosina Malagrida - IrsiCaixa
I am the head of the Living Lab for Health at IrsiCaixa, where we set up and facilitate systems innovation networks where different stakeholders work on complex and persistent health challenges to increase their collective impact advancing towards integrated care. Within these networks, we contribute to transform the R&I health system by making it more open, inclusive, collaborative and distributed following a Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), transdisciplinary and systems approach. We offer consultancy services with participatory research processes for strategic planning, training and facilitation of multistakeholder systems innovation networks.I teach at different undergraduate and postgraduate degrees of the University of Barcelona and at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). I also offer training in other universities, research organisations and innovation agencies and have already trained more than 6,500 researchers and innovators.
Previously I worked at the Barcelona Science Park, the science museums of Barcelona and London and the BBC, always with the aim to improve the social impact of science. I have participated as PI in more than 10 EU funded projects related to RRI, transdisciplinary R&I and systems innovation during the last 15 years. I have undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Barcelona, ESADE, Imperial College London and VU University of Amsterdam.
Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Alfonso Valencia
BSC – WP1
Alfonso Valencia - Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Prof. Alfonso Valencia (AV) PhD, ICREA Research Professor and Director of the Life Science Department of the BSC. Head of the Spanish node of the European Infrastructure for Life-Science Information, ELIXIR. Founding member and President of the ISCB. His research is based on the use of computation for the analysis of large collection of genomic information with particular emphasis in the study of protein families and protein interaction networks. His recent work focuses in the area of cancer (epi)genomics, tumour evolution, precision medicine and the study of co-morbidity. He has published more than 450 peer-reviewed papers (Scopus: H: 99; Google Scholar: 107, over 43,000 citations). He is the leader of IMPaCT-Data, the national Precision Medicine Infrastructure associated to Science and Technology (ISCIII). Furthermore, he is the coordinator of the HPC/Exascale Centre of Excellence for Personalised Medicine in Europe (H2020 – 951773), and EOSC4Cancer, Horizon Europe project that will make cancer genomics, imaging, medical, clinical, environmental, and socio-economics data accessible.
Anna Díaz M. Rovira
BSC – WP1
Anna M. Díaz-Rovira - Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Camila Pontes
BSC – WP1
Camila Pontes - Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Miguel Romero
BSC – WP1
Miguel Romero - Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Roc Farriol
BSC – WP1
Roc Farriol - Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Victor Guallar
BSC – WP1
Victor Guallar - Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Victor Montal
BSC – WP1
Victor Montal - Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy (University of Montpellier)
Mar Naranjo Gómez
IRMB – WP5 & WP7
Mar Naranjo Gómez - Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy of Montpellier
Mireia Pelegrin
IRMB – WP5 & WP7
Mireia Pelegrin - Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy of Montpellier
Dr. Pelegrin has a long-term experience in the study host-pathogens interactions as well as in antiviral immunotherapies. She has pioneered the proof-of-concept that monoclonal antibody-based immunotherapies can induce long-term protective adaptive immune responses (vaccine-like effects). She has published over 40 articles in the field of immunovirology and antiviral immunotherapies. Her current work aims at developing innovative immunotherapies based on mAbs, antibody-derived molecules and cell therapies. Her work also aims at deciphering and harnessing antibody-mediated immunomodulation mechanisms for therapeutic strategies.
Pathogenesis and Control of Chronic and Emerging Infections (University of Montpellier)
Yannick Simonin
PCCEI – WP5 & WP7
Yannick Simonin - Pathogenesis and Control of Chronic and Emerging Infections
Pr. Yannick Simonin has been investigating for the last 15 years in pathophysiology of viral infections. He is co-leading the Neuroinfections and Emerging Viruses (NERVE) group in the PCCEI team since 2016 focused on the study of One health aspects associated with viral emergence and to characterize the virulence of emerging viruses using in vivo and in vitro models. The group published ~35 articles on arbovirus infections, particularly on neurovirulence and brain access (for ZIKV, DENV, WNV, USUV …). The group has a strong expertise on WNV as well as all the equipment necessary for molecular and cell biology techniques, as well as access to level 3 cell culture and animal facilities (University of Montpellier).
HIPRA
Laura Ferrer
HIPRA – WP5, WP8 & WP9
Laura Ferrer - HIPRA
Laura Ferrer has a PhD in Biology focused on oncological therapy for breast and pancreatic cancers. She performed the research in Universitat de Girona and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
In 2006 she joined Hipra as a project leader developing vaccines for swine, and in 2011 she became supervisor of different projects in the same area. During this period she was in working with top line research in vaccines for different pathogens (virus and bacteria).
In 2016 she became Manager of the new unit of R&D Companion Animal, developing tasks of direction, project management, strategic vision and formation of the group. In this sense, she was responsible for the growth and consolidation of this area, until today.
In 2021 Hipra created the Human Health R&D unit and Laura became the Director of it. One of the most important milestones was the development and registration of the Bimervax vaccine in March 2023, the first Hipra’s human health vaccine to deal with Covid-19. She is currently in charge of the R&D teams of Human Health and Companion Animal.
Teresa Prat
HIPRA – WP8
Teresa Prat - HIPRA
She has wide experience in define technical regulatory requirements and provide regulatory advice to R&D during development of new projects. Also, in the preparation of all data package for official submission to Regulatory Authorities for initial marketing authorization application but also throughout product’s life cycle (variations, renewals, repeat use).
For the last 18 years she has been responsible of team management functions providing leadership and oversight to the regulatory team and setting priorisation and coordination of work load with more than 10 direct reports under her mentorship. Her team has successfully achieved about 20 new product veterinary medicines authorisations in the EU during the last 15 years. Many of them were products of biotechnology authorized through the centralized procedure at the European Medicine Agency. Based on her long years of experience in Regulatory Affairs, she developed an open and professional relationship with Regulatory Authorities of many European countries always through official contacts.
Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)
Carlo Carolis
CRG – WP2, WP8 & WP9
Carlo Carolis - CRG
After graduating in Biology from the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Carlo Carolis moved to Germany to join the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, where he pursued his PhD in the lab of Dietrick Suck. In 2008, he obtained a short bridge postdoc position at EMBL, continuing his work on the structural characterization of protein-DNA complexes. In 2009, he was awarded a CSIC fellowship for a postdoc position at IRB-Barcelona in the group of Miquel Coll, where he worked on the structural determination of a Compass and DNA Polymerase II protein complex as part of the 3DRepertoire European Project. In 2010, he moved to the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, working as a research officer for the SysteMtb European Project in the Biomolecular Screening and Protein Technologies Unit.
Currently, he is the Head of the CRG’s Protein Technologies Unit. In this role, he is responsible for the successful management of the core tech unit, ensuring that the services offered are state-of-the-art and resources are used efficiently. He also establishes strategies for new application developments and offers training activities to the scientific community.
He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journals, filed one patent, and trained master’s and graduate students from various national and international universities.
Natalia Rodrigo
CRG – WP2, WP8 & WP9
Natalia Rodrigo - CRG
Natalia Rodrigo obtained her degrees in Biology and Biochemistry from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB). She began her career as a research technician at the CRAG, working with SUMOylation proteins, where she gained experience in molecular biology, plant biology, and protein purification. Following this, she moved to AstraZeneca, specializing in protein purification in mammalian systems, particularly antibodies, characterization, and screening techniques. These roles consolidated her extensive experience in protein production.
Natalia is currently working at the Protein Technologies Unit of the CRG as a specialist technician in protein production and biophysical characterization, where she provides services to the community.
Katie Broadbent
CRG – WP2, WP8 & WP9
Katie Broadbent - CRG
Katie obtained her BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology in 1997 from Abertay University in the United Kingdom.
In 1997, Katie began her career in a GLP/GMP-accredited biotechnology company in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Bioreliance offers specialist safety testing, process validation services, and contract manufacturing to the biopharmaceutical industry. Katie worked in the Molecular Biology Department gaining expertise in cloning, PCR, and sequencing.
In 2007, Katie began working in the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) on an Antibody Validation project where she worked validating an antibody collection through screening in immunoassays.
In 2011, Katie began working on a validation project at the CRG. Here, mutant proteins derived from the TNF ligand superfamily were designed and screened in immune and cellular assays to investigate their effectiveness as inhibitors of wild types with possible clinical applications in osteoporosis and cancer.
Currently, Katie is an integral part of the Protein Technology Unit at the CRG. She provides services such as high-throughput screening, cloning, CRISPR/CAS9 genome editing technology, expression of mammalian proteins, protein engineering, and biophysical characterisation of proteins and nucleic acids.
Katie’s main areas of expertise are Molecular biology, Immunology, and Biochemistry.
Isabel Latorre
CRG – WP2, WP8 & WP9
Isabel Latorre - CRG
Isabel Latorre Queralt obtained her degree in Chemistry from Universitat de Barcelona (UB). After completing a two-years of Master’s program with experience in the pharmaceutical industry, she moved to the PCB to work on protein interactions projects. This role allowed her to gain valuable experience in protein production using E.Coli systems.
Subsequently, she held a position at the IBMB as the head of the Protein Purification Service, where she became a specialist in protein purification. Her next role as a research assistant at the IRB further consolidate her extensive experience in protein expression.
Isabel is currently working at Protein Technologies Unit of the CRG, providing services to the community.
Mar López
CRG – WP2
Mar López - CRG
Mar holds BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Biotechnology from the UAB and UB. During her PhD at the IBMB in Barcelona, she investigated the mechanisms of regulation of metalloproteases using a combination of biochemical, biophysical and structural techniques, gaining expertise in cloning, protein expression, purification and further molecular characterization. Additionally, she worked on directed evolution and high-throughput enzymatic assays to optimize the activity of a highly specific minimal protease.
In 2016 she joined the ISTA in Vienna as Lab Manager, where she carried out and optimized cloning, protein expression and purification strategies for own projects and projects of other team members centered on in vitro reconstitution of bacterial cell division components.
In 2024 she joined the Protein Technologies Unit at the CRG as Technician to develop high-throughput screening strategies for recombinant immunogen production, selection and formulation.
