meet the faculty
Embedded Files
I am a Beatriz Galindo researcher at Universidad de Barcelona in Spain. My research is focused on understanding the genomic bases that control the appearance of new organs and structures in animals during their evolution with a particular focus on the evolution of winged insects, the most diverse and numerous group of animals on the planet.
I am an ICREA Research Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, with dual affiliation with the CRG, Barcelona, Spain. My lab is interested in understanding the roles that transcriptomic diversification, especially through alternative splicing and gene duplication, plays on vertebrate development and evolution. My research is centered on two major questions: How does a single genome sequence encode the information to build the enormous complexity of cell types and structures of an adult organism? How are changes in this sequence translated into morphological novelties during evolution? In my lab, we approach these topics focusing on cell and tissue type specific transcriptomes: How are they encoded in the genome? How are they generated during embryogenesis? How do they impact cell function in adult organisms? How do they evolve and how they impact evolution? To answer these questions, we not only study transcriptional regulation, but also other mechanisms that expand transcriptomic diversity, such as alternative splicing and gene duplication, combining computational and experimental approaches using in vitro and in vivo systems (zebrafish, mouse and fruitfly).
I am an evolutionary biologist broadly interested in understanding the patterns and processes that generate and maintain biodiversity. My favorite study systems are evolutionary transitions, which are unprecedented for understanding evolutionary change and pose interesting methodological challenges. Phylogenomics and comparative genomics / multi-omics are two main pillars of my research program, but I strive for an integrative view of complex evolutionary phenomena.
I am a researcher at the Estación Biológica de Doñana, in Seville, Spain. I am an evolutionary biologist interested in the origin and propagation of phylogenetic lineages and phenotypes, especially evolutionary novelties. My work uses different approaches to study these themes at different scales: from broad patterns in evolution across species, using comparative phylogenetic methods, down to the molecular mechanisms underlying plastic phenotypic changes, using transcriptomics and genomics.
The origin of new genes can often occur in a sudden manner. This generates novel interactions between these new molecular entities and the cellular environment of the organism in which they are originated. This is what we call “unexpected molecular encounters” and “first-time molecular interactions”. Our goal is to understand how new biological interactions are initially set at the time of origin of molecular innovations. This will allow us study the inherent capacities of biological molecular structures to interpret and read the information contained in other biological systems and shed light into how the identity of these systems is defined and changed over time.
Marta Portela
Marta Portela
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Barcelona, specialized in functional genomics and developmental biology. My research focuses on understanding how gene regulation shapes development and evolution. By integrating transcriptomic, chromatin accessibility, and transcription factor binding data, I investigate how molecular innovations remodel gene regulatory networks and contribute to changes in the identity and function of biological systems over time.
I am a tenured researcher at Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid (Spain). I am interested in the evolutionary patterns of marine invertebrates, using a genomic perspective on several biological processes like reproduction, gene flow, phylogeny, venom production, and gene transcription of sponges, polychaetes, and nemerteans. In my lab we use different techniques and approaches, such as comparative genomics and transcriptomics, single-cell sequencing, RADseq, metabarcoding, immunocytochemistry or electron microscopy (STEM/TEM), among others.
I’m a postdoctoral researcher in Isabel Almudi's lab at the University of Barcelona, specializing in advanced bioinformatics to explore evolutionary and developmental biology. My research utilizes various omics approaches, including scRNA-seq and ATAC-seq, to investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying evolutionary novelties.
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Galway (Ireland). My research focuses on using an integrative approach combining phylogenomics, comparative transcriptomics, and genomics, to reconstruct the evolutionary history of early animals. During my PhD at the University of Bristol (UK) I used sponges (Porifera) as a model system, to investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying biomineralization, and light receptors, and give us an insight into early animal evolution. Recently, my research has moved to choanoflagellates, the sister group of animals, where I will try to understand the evolution of gene regulation.
I am a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University in the UK, specializing in stem cell research and regeneration in invertebrates, primarily focusing on the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. My team has developed innovative methods like ACME for dissociation and combinatorial single-cell transcriptomics, enhancing our understanding of planarian stem cell differentiation. We've also explored stem cells in the regenerating annelid Pristina leidyi and are analysing atlases of various other regenerating organisms. Our future focus is decoding the transcriptional and epigenetic code of invertebrate pluripotent stem cells and their differentiation, contributing to the evolution of animal stem cells.
I am a Senior Scientist at the Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology in Seville, Spain. My research is focused on the transcriptional regulation and its relationship with embryonic development, evolution and disease. Currently, I am starting a new research line focused on the study of aging from a genetic and epigenomic point of view, using the turquoise killing fish as a model.
I am a La Caixa Junior Leader at Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Spain). I am broadly interested in the diversity and evolution of marine invertebrates and the processes that originate novel convergent traits such as venom or bioluminescence. I use different methods including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, molecular evolution, phylogenetics and morphology to answer questions such as whether the same genes underlie convergent traits in unrelated organisms, or how novel features originate and what is their impact in species diversification and lineage evolution. I am currently using venom systems in marine annelids and nemerteans as model traits to investigate these questions.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse