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:

Batlle Gómez, Eduard

Institut de Recerca Biomèdica (IRB Barcelona)

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Batlle Gómez, Eduard
Research Professor at
Institut de Recerca Biomèdica (IRB Barcelona)
Life & Medical Sciences
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Research interests

The inner layer of the intestinal tube, the intestinal epithelium, is in a constant process of renewal. Hundreds of millions of terminally differentiated intestinal cells are replaced by new cells every day during the life of an adult organism. This tremendous regenerative power is ultimately sustained by a small population of intestinal stem cells. It is believed that alterations in the functioning of intestinal stem cells account for the pathophysiology of various bowel disorders. Our laboratory studies the connection between the biology of Intestinal Stem Cells and Colon Cancer. We are also interested in the process of metastasis, the cause of death of most colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Neither conventional chemotherapy nor current targeted therapies offer significant benefits once the disease has spread to distant organs. Furthermore, current CRC staging based on histopathology and imaging has a limited ability to predict the evolution of the disease. We have recently discovered that vast majority of genes that distinguish poor prognosis CRC subtypes are expressed by stromal cells rather than by epithelial tumor cells. We proposed that metastasis relies on a tumor cell non-autonomous program driven by TGF-beta in the tumor microenvironment.

Key words
Colorectal cancer, intestinal stem cells, TGF-beta signaling, tumor microenvironment, metastasis
Battaglia, Giuseppe

Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC)

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Battaglia, Giuseppe
Research Professor at
Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC)
Engineering Sciences
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Research interests

Beppe's group research focuses on how molecules, macromolecules, viruses, vesicles, and whole cells traffic across our body barriers. Half of his group combines novel microscopic tools with theoretical and computational physics to study biological transport from the single molecules, cell membrane, to the whole organism. The group's other half translates the acquired knowledge to bioengineer novel nanomedicines, combining soft matter physics with synthetic chemistry. Here, the group designs bionic units that mimic specific biological functions and introduce operations that do not exist in nature. Beppe and his group apply a constructionist approach to mimic biological complexity in design principles to produce functional units from simple building blocks and their interactions. They call such an effort, Molecular Bionics, and it involves inputs from physical science and engineering from one side and biomedical science.

Key words
Nanomedicine, drug delivery, polymersomes, block copolymer, biomaterials, physical biology, endocytosis, targeting, active matter, polymer synthesis

ORCID
: orcid.org/0000-0003-3349-6770

RESEARCHER ID
: I-2142-2013
Beistegui, Miguel

Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)

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Beistegui, Miguel
Research Professor at
Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)
Humanities
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Research interests

I am a philosopher with a broad range of interests (ontology, aesthetics, ethics, and political philosophy), with monographs on Heidegger, Deleuze, Proust, Chillida, and Lacan. Since the 2008 financial crisis, my thought has taken a critical turn. My recent work include a trilogy on desire as: a genealogy of desire as a way of understanding who we are; as a specifically liberal technology of government; as a constructive approach to the self, aimed at exploring alternative and emancipatory practices. My most recent includes two books,: a critique of, and a reflection on ways to overcome, the forces or 'vices', such as stupidity and spite, which diminish our ability to think and our agency (individual or collective); a 'philosophy of crisis', which aims to: construct a rigorous concept of crisis; distinguish between types and levels of crises; show how such a concept can help us better understand, and engage with, the most significant crises of our time.

Key words
Desire, Governmentality, Liberalism and Neoliberalism, Genealogy, Subjectivity, Critique, Crisis, Technocene.

ORCID
: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8599-9308
Belarte Franco, Maria Carme

Institut Català d'Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC)

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Belarte Franco, Maria Carme
Research Professor at
Institut Català d'Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC)
Humanities
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Research interests

The general goal of my research is to study the processes that transformed the Late Bronze Age local-scale groups into the complex societies of the Western Mediterranean Iron Age. Within this general goal, I deal with more specific topics such as urban planning, architecture, household organisation, domestic activities and funerary practices and rituals. Since 2020 I have been conducting the 'Transdisciplinary and experimental study of combustion structures in the western Mediterranean during Protohistory' Project. Within this project, an interdisciplinary methodology for studying fire installations in the Iron Age societies of the Western Mediterranean has been implemented. It integrates different techniques coming from Bioarchaeology and Geoarchaeology, as well as Experimental Archaeology, in order to gather information on the use of fuels, natural resources management, and daily activities related to fire.

Key words
Protohistoric societies, Iron Age, Western Mediterranean, domestic architecture, experimental archaeology, building techniques, town planning, settlement patterns, archaeology of death and rituals, pyroarchaeology

ORCID
: 0000-0002-2293-0482

RESEARCHER ID
: AAB-6267-2019
Benet-Martínez, Verónica

Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)

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Benet-Martínez, Verónica
Research Professor at
Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)
Social & Behavioural Sciences
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Research interests

Using observational and experimental research designs and different types of data (survey, behavioral, social network) I examine the following issues: ACCULTURATION/MULTICULTURALISM: Dynamics and socio-cognitive correlates of managing two or more cultural affiliations and identities; Individual differences in bicultural identity structure; Biculturalism and social-networks; Consequences of biculturalism (social, cognitive, and adjustment-related). CULTURE AND PERSONALITY/SELF-CONCEPT: Identification and measurement of culture-specific and -general personality constructs; Interplay of cultural values and personality in predicting well-being; Bilingualism and self-schemas. CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH METHODS: Cultural/linguistic issues in the development and adaptation of psychological scales and tests; Combined emic-etic methodology.

Key words
Cross/Cultural Psychology; Social Psychology; Personality Psychology;

ORCID
: 0000-0002-3352-9731

RESEARCHER ID
: B-5398-2011
Biegert, Jens

Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO)

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Biegert, Jens
Research Professor at
Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO)
Experimental Sciences & Mathematics
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Research interests

Our research in Attosecond Quantum Dynamics aims at revealing the dynamic behaviour of the quantum world within atoms molecules and solids that lead to macrocopic functionalities. We use attosecond soft x-ray pulses and quantum microscopy with single electrons to address fundamental problems such as molecular isomerization, phase transitions and superconductivity with applications across quantum sensing, energy harvesting and storage, efficent sensing and computing.

Key words
attoscience, ultrafast dynamics, strong field physics, atomic and molecular physics, laser science, nonlinear optics, parametric interaction, soft X-ray, electron ion spectroscopy

ORCID
: 0000-0002-7556-501X

RESEARCHER ID
: D-2243-2009