People
Marcelo E. GUERIN, Ph.D. - Pharm. D.
Structural Glycobiology Lab - Group Leader (2009 - present)
Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB) - Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Research Professor - Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain (2023 - present)
Ikerbasque Research Professor - The Basque Foundation for Science, Spain (2009 - 2023)
Postdoctoral Fellow - Mycobacteria Research Laboratories, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, USA (2008-2009)
Postdoctoral Fellow - Structural Biochemistry Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France (2003-2007)
Ph. D. - Area of Chemistry - Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Glycobiology - Leloir Institute, School of Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina (2002)
Pharm. D., School of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina (1997)
My interest in glycobiology began as an undergraduate student, while working with glycoside hydrolases under professor Alberto C. Frasch at the Leloir Institute, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1991-1996). This research center was named in honor to professor Luis F. Leloir, who discovered the first sugar nucleotide and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1970 for his fundamental contributions to our knowledge of glycan biosynthesis and metabolism. I then completed my doctoral studies in the area of chemistry, mainly using biochemistry, molecular biology and glycobiology techniques, under professor Armando J. Parodi. I studied mechanistic aspects of the UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase, an exquisite enzyme that senses the folding status of substrates glycoproteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (1997- 2002). At that time, in the late 1990s, information about the three-dimensional structure of glycosyltransferases was very limited, in part due to the difficulty of expressing these proteins, which are frequently membrane-associated.
To further advance toward the understanding of the molecular mechanism that governs glycosyl transfer reactions, I moved to professor Pedro M. Alzari's laboratory, at the Structural Biochemistry Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, where I was first introduced to macromolecular crystallography (2003-2007). Of particular relevance in the field, we reported the very first crystal structures of a glycogen synthase and that of the essential membrane-associated phosphatidylinositol mannosyltransferase PimA, a key glycosyltranferase involved in the biosynthesis of mycobacterial phosphatidylinositol mannosides. After this postdoctoral training, I continued my work on the mycobacterial cell envelope when I transferred as a postdoctoral fellow under professor Mary Jackson, at the Mycobacteria Research Laboratories, Department of Microbiology, Colorado State University, United States (2008-2009).
In 2009, I was awarded an Ikerbasque Research Professor position as the Head of the Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, in the Basque Country, Spain (2009-2023). In June 2023, I was awarded with a Research Professor position from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (2023-present) to establish and further progress my group at the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB). IBMB is the largest research center of CSIC focused in Life and Medical Sciences in Catalonia, Spain. IBMB is located in the Parc Científic of Barcelona (PCB), providing an outstanding scientific and multidisciplinary environment, and state-of-the-art facilities. In 2015, the Department of Structural Biology received the Excellence Award "María de Maeztu" from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, earning a place alongside the top research Structural Biology Units in Spain.
CURRENT MEMBERS
Adriá ALCAIDE i JIMENEZ
Post-doctoral Fellow (2024 - present)
Adriá came from Miquel Coll' Lab, IBMB and IRB, Barcelona, Spain
Carlos MODENUTTI
Post-doctoral Fellow (2024 - present)
Carlos came from Pietro Roversi' Lab, Istituto di Biologia e Biotecnologia Agraria, Milano, Italy
Valerio DI DOMENICO
Ph.D. Student - FPI-MINECO Fellow (2021 - present)
Valerio came from Universita degli studi di Roma 'La Sapienza', Italy
Alicia MORALEDA-MONTOYA
Master and Ph.D. Student (2021 - present)
Alicia came from the University of the Basque Country, Spain
Juan Carlos VILLEGAS-RUIZ, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Student - FPI-MINECO Fellow (2024 - present)
Juan Carlos came from the University of Granada, Spain
PAST MEMBERS
David GIGANTI, Ph.D.
Post-doctoral Fellow (2010-2011)
David came from Prof. Pedro Alzari' Lab - Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
David moved to Prof. Julio Fernandez' Lab - Columbia University, New York, USA, as a postdoctoral fellow
Enea SANCHO-VAELLO, Ph.D.
Post-doctoral Fellow (2014 - 2016)
Enea came from Prof. Kornelius Zeth' Lab - Unit of Biophysics, Leioa, Spain
Enea moved to Prof. Antoni Planas' Lab - IQS, Institut Quimic Sarria, Barcelona, Spain, as a postdoctoral fellow
María Angela SAINZ-POLO
Post-doctoral Fellow (2016 - 2018)
María Angela came from Prof. Julia Sainz-Aparicio' Lab - Institute of Physical Chemistry Rocasolano (IQFR) - Spanish Research Council (CSIC), Spain
María Angela moved to the Department of Physics and Chemistry, IES Vela Zanetti as a lecturer
David ALBESA-JOVE, Ph. D.
Post-doctoral Fellow and Ikerbasque Research Fellow (2010 - 2019)
David came from Neil Fairweather' Lab - Imperial College London, UK
David moved to the Instituto Biofisika, Leioa, Spain, as a Group Leader
Beatriz TRASTOY-BELLO
Post-doctoral 'Juan de la Cierva' MINECO Fellow (2016 - 2018)
Post-doctoral 'Marie Curie' EU Fellow (2019 - 2021)
Beatriz came from Prof. Eric Sundberg' Lab - University of Maryland, US
Beatriz moved to IIS-BioCruces Bizkaia, Spain, as a Group Leader
Ainara OTAMENDI
Post-doctoral Fellow (2022)
Co-direction with Dr. Oier Etxebeste (University of the Basque Country, Spain)
Javier CIFUENTE, Ph.D.
Post-doctoral Fellow (2014 - 2023)
Javier came from Prof. Susan Hafenstein' lab, Penn State University, US
Javier moved to Prof. Iban Ubarretxena-Belandia' lab, Instituto Biofisika, Spain, as a postdoctoral fellow
Saioa URRESTI, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Student (2010-2013)
Saioa moved to Prof. Gideon Davies' Lab - YSBL, University of York, York, UK, as a postdoctoral fellow
Ane RODRIGO-UNZUETA
Master and Ph.D. Student (2011 - 2015)
Ane moved to Prof. Clifton Barry' 3rd Lab - Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa, as a postdoctoral fellow
Natalia COMINO
Ph.D. Student (2012 - 2017)
Natalia moved to Prof. Fernando López-Gallego' Lab - CIC biomaGUNE as a postdoctoral fellow
Montse TERSA
Ph.D. Student (2014 - 2018)
Montse moved to Prof. Ed Tate' Lab - Imperial College London, UK, as a postdoctoral fellow
Itxaso ANSO
Ph.D. Student - Basque Government Fellow (2018 - 2023)
Co-direction with Prof. Xabier Contreras (Instituto Biofisika, Spain) and Prof. Rafael Prados-Rosales (Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain)
Itxaso came form the University of Navarra, Spain
Itxaso moved to Prof. Petya Krasteva' Lab - European Institute of Chemistry and Biology (IECB), Bordeaux, France, as a postdoctoral fellow
Cecilia D'ANGELO
Ph.D. Student - FPI-MINECO Fellow (2018 - 2023)
Cecilia came from Universita degli studi di Roma 'La Sapienza', Italy
Cecilia moved to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) - Vaccine, Brussels, Belgium as a Research Scientist
Sebastian PERRONE, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Student - MINECO - LCSB Fellow (2019 - 2023)
Co-direction with Prof. Carole Linster (LCSB, Luxembourg)
Sebastian came from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sebastian moved to Porf. carole Linster' Lab, LCSB Luxembourg, as a postdoctoral fellow
Mikel GARCIA
Undergraduate student (2014 - 2019)
Ph.D. Student - La Caixa Fellow (2019 - 2023)
Mikel came from the University of the Basque Country, Spain
Mikel moved to Syngoi Technologies, The Basque Country, Spain, as a Research Scientist
Leonardo MASTRELLA
Ph.D. Student (2021 - 2023)
Co-direction with Prof. Carole Linster (LCSB, Luxembourg)
Leonardo came from Università Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona, Italy
Nuestro querido Leo falleció en Noviembre de 2023, durante el desarrollo de su tesis doctoral. Enfrentó una enfermedad devastadora de una manera ejemplar. Con ilusión, con dignidad, con un valor y un coraje extraordinarios. Siempre acompañado y apoyado por sus seres queridos. Leonardo nos deja recuerdos imborrables. Su entusiasmo, su curiosidad, sus ilusiones, su transparencia, su don de gente, su trabajo y su sonrisa incofundible. Querido Leo, te extrañamos y abrazamos donde quiera que estés.
Diego SASTRE
Visiting Post-Doctoral Fellow - (2017)
Diego came from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Edgar PAEZ-PEREZ
Visiting Ph.D. Student - CONACYT Fellow (2019-2020)
Edgar came from IPICYT, México
Julene MADARIAGA-MARCOS and Ana CARRERAS-GONZALEZ
Master Student (2012) and Undergraduate/Master Student (2010-2014), respectively
Julene moved to Prof. Fernando Moreno-Herrero' Lab – Spanish National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), Madrid, Spain as a Ph.D. student.
Ana moved to Prof. Juan Anguita' Lab - CICbioGUNE, Derio, Spain, as a Ph.D. student
Ane ORRANTIA
Master Student (2016)
Ane moved to Prof. Francisco Borrego' Lab - Biocruces Health Research Institute, Bilbao, Spain
Ander EGUSKIZA
Undergraduate student (2014 - 2016)
Ander moved to Prof. Poul Nissen lab, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark, as an Erasmus fellow
Izaskun ORDONEZ
Undergraduate student (2019)
Izaskun moved to the University of the Basque Country, Spain
Pedro ARRASATE
Technician (2014 - 2015)
Unit of Biophysics, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), University of the Basque Country, Spain
Sonia LOPEZ-FERNANDEZ
Technician (2010 - 2013)
Unit of Biophysics, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), University of the Basque Country, Spain
Alberto MARINA
Technician (2016 - 2020)
CIC bioGUNE, Spain