The ICREAs

ICREA Research Professors form a vibrant community of scientists and researchers in all areas of knowledge that contribute to the advancement of humankind by exploring, interpreting and questioning. Have a look and learn about their amazing discoveries and findings here:

Di Croce, Luciano

Centre de Regulació Genòmica (CRG)

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Di Croce, Luciano
Research Professor at
Centre de Regulació Genòmica (CRG)
Life & Medical Sciences
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Research interests

Epigenetic changes, such as histone modifications and DNA methylation, are common alterations in cancer cells. Our laboratory is addressing the molecular basis of epigenetic alterations during the early phase of the tumorigenesis process. The expression of onco-proteins in hematopoietic precursor cells provides a unique model system to follow the molecular step from a normal to a transformed cell on the level of gene transcription, nuclear structure and chromatin. More recently, Di Croce lab is interested in understanding how variations in the assembly of the Polycomb complexes occur and influence mES cell differentiation and animal development, and th erole of 'oncohistone' in pediatric cancers.

Key words
Cancer, Epigenetics, Gene regulation

ORCID
: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3488-6228

RESEARCHER ID
: E-7759-2015
Díaz-Andreu García, A. Margarita

Universitat de Barcelona (UB)

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Díaz-Andreu García, A. Margarita
Research Professor at
Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
Humanities
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Research interests

The three main research areas in which Díaz-Andreu has been active and has led research groups in the last few years are still in place. Her work in rock art and archaeoacoustics is highly innovative and she leads an ERC interdisciplinary group of archaeologists, acoustic engineers, ethnomusicologists and psychologists. For this project, in 2022 fieldwork was undertaken in South Africa. She also published on the archaeoacoustics of Russian Altai. In the history of archaeology the highlight has been the publication of a book about the history of women in archaeology (518pp) and the running of the ArqueólogAs project, with the publication of 150+ biographies of women pioneers on the project’s webpage. Her work in the international DeepCities project has resulted in a publication about heritage values in urban transformation. She is leading investigator in all her three research groups of academics and students (ArqueólogAs, Artsoundscapes and GAPP/Deep Cities).

Key words
History of Archaeology, Prehistoric Art, Rock Art, Prehistory, Identity, Archaeoacoustics, Archaeological Heritage

ORCID
: 0000-0003-1043-2336

RESEARCHER ID
: B-6146-2014
Doblas Reyes, Francisco Javier

Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS)

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Doblas Reyes, Francisco Javier
Research Professor at
Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS)
Experimental Sciences & Mathematics
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Research interests

Global climate is highly variable, which implies that there is much more to understand than just climate change. Climate prediction aims at predicting the variations of climate at different time scales, ranging from one month to several years beyond the start of the forecast. I use an Earth system model based on differential equations to explore the limits of the forecast quality over different parts of the globe, in particular over Africa, South America, the Arctic and Southern Europe. I develop this model to explore the advantages of increasing its resolution to better reproduce the physical processes at the origin of climate variability. I also use statistical techniques to adapt the resulting climate information to specific user needs. Improving the application of this climate information to different socio-economic sectors, with a special focus on energy and disaster risk management, is one of my main targets to try to make a change in both society and the economy.

Key words
climate variability, climate prediction, downscaling, climate applications

ORCID
: 0000-0002-6622-4280
Domingo Sanz, Inés

Universitat de Barcelona (UB)

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Domingo Sanz, Inés
Research Professor at
Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
Humanities
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Research interests

My current research projects aim at brigding the gap between scientific and heritage approaches to one of Europe's most extraordinary bodies of rock art, awarded UNESCO Wolrd Heritage Status in 1998: Levantine rock art. This research is funded with an ERC CoG (2019-2025). My aim is to achieve an holistic view of this art by combining a multidisciplinary (Archaeology, Heritage Science, IT and Ethnoarchaeology) and a multiscale approach (from microanalysis to landscape perspectives) to: a. Redefine LRA through new dating techniques and analythical methods to understand the creative process. b. Use this rock art tradition as a proxy to raise new questions of global interest on the evolution of creative thinking and human cognition. c. Define best practices and protocols for open air rock art conservation and management.

Key words
Postpalaeolithic Rock art in Mediterranean Spain (Levantine, Macro-schematic and Schematic traditions), style, techniques, social identity, pigment analysis, ethnoarchaeology, Australian Indigenous rock art, Digital rock art recording methods.

ORCID
: orcid/org/0000-0003-4707-8094
Donat, Markus G.

Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS)

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Donat, Markus G.
Research Professor at
Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS)
Experimental Sciences & Mathematics
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Research interests

My research aims to understand and predict how different types of climate extremes, such as heatwaves, intense precipitation or storms, are changing in the context of climate variability and long-term climate change related to global warming. This involves studying weather and climate processes that cause or amplify such extreme events, and how they respond to different climate drivers. My work involves the development and analysis of high-quality observational datasets of climate extremes, and different types of climate model simulations aiming to predict climate in the near-term (e.g. next years and decade) and more distant future. A key focus is to reduce the uncertainty related to climate variability in these climate predictions. I also explore the efficacy of land-based approaches to mitigate climate change by removing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and how these mitigation approaches may be put at risk through exposure to extreme weather and climate events.

Key words
climate extremes, climate variability, climate change, predictability

ORCID
: 0000-0002-0608-7288

RESEARCHER ID
: J-8331-2012
Durduran, Turgut

Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO)

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Durduran, Turgut
Research Professor at
Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO)
Engineering Sciences
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Research interests

Turgut is a physicist who is an expert in biomedical optics. He studies the physics of photon propagation in biological tissues and builds machines that can see through our bodies like never before. His group is highly multi-disciplinary: physicists, engineers and medical doctors, and collaborates closely with hospitals and biomedical centers all around the world. Turgut's current focus is the measurement of hemodynamics and oxygen metabolism. His dream is to see these devices becoming standard clinical equipment for the doctors of the future.

Key words
Photonics, Biophotonics, Biomedical optics, Medical Technologies, Diffuse optics

ORCID
: orcid.org/0000-0001-5838-1027

RESEARCHER ID
: N-7768-2015