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Research interest

Anduiza's research examines citizens’ political engagement in advanced democracies, including the causes and consequences of electoral turnout, vote choice, political protest, digital media, and political attitudes. She is also interested in survey and experimental methodology. Recently her research has focused on the attitudinal consequences of the economic crisis, with a special focus on understanding the triggers and implications of populist attitudes. Currently, she is exploring change in political attitudes using panel data covering over a decade of political turmoil in Spain. She is analyzing the consequences of party system change for individual behavior, observing how new parties generate political engagement and meaningful partisanship among supporters. She is also studying the interplay between attitudes towards gender equality, feminist protest mobilization, and vote choice, with a special emphasis on the individual dynamics of gender backlash.

Key words

populism, political participation, emotions, attitude change, protest, experiments, panel data, gender attitudes

ORCID

0000-0003-0924-8064

Resercher ID

D-4829-2009

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Research interest

Albert's research interests are in the fields of corporate finance, competition policy and market regulation, and energy and the environment. Albert’s research areas span across Economics, Management and Finance. His work makes use of theoretical, empirical, experimental and simulation techniques.

His current main lines of research are:

(i) Common ownership and competition, joint with Jo Seldeslachts (Leuven and Berlin) and Xavier Vives (IESE).

(ii) Funding academic research, with Ines Macho-Stadler and David Perez-Castrillo (UAB).

(iii) The functioning of energy markets with Olivier Massol (IFP Paris). 

(iv) Corporate finance and information policy with Marco Ottaviani (Bocconi).

(v) Resolution of banking groups with Gyöngyi Lóránth (Vienna) and Julian Kolm (Vienna).

(vi) Venture capital and start-up finance with Javier Gomez-Biscarri (UPF), Inés Macho-Stadler (UAB) and David Pérez-Castrillo (UAB).

Key words

Industrial Organisation, Competition Policy, Corporate Finance, Innovation, Energy

ORCID

0000-0002-4797-8677

Resercher ID

D-7578-2013

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Research interest

My research interests are focused on the study of cognitive and neuroimaging changes occurring in ageing and in particular, how lifestyles and psychological factors can influence brain health during lifespan. At a more experimental level, I also investigate how non-invasive brain stimulation can modulate brain networks, reflecting mechanisms of plasticity in advancing age and potentially providing new strategies to potentiate cognitive function in this segment of people. My group has a strong focus on the use of neuroimaging  techniques, in particular  magnetic resonance imaging, combined with transcranial magnetic and/or electrical stimulation protocols. We are currently engaged in interventional studies aimed to investigate the impact of optimizing and personalizing healthy lifestiles on brain and mental health measures.

Key words

Brain health, brain resilience, aging, cognitive and brain function, non-invasive brain stimulation

ORCID

0000-0001-6020-4118

Resercher ID

C-8997-2011

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Research interest

I am interested in better understanding conscious experience in humans in health and disease using cognitive/affective/behavioral approaches, noninvasive brain stimulation and neuroimaging techniques, reaching out to other disciplines when relevant. My research spans from healthy to clinical populations, with the ultimate goal to generate a breadth of knowledge with the potential to contribute to the development of novel tools with clinical relevance for brain-related conditions.

Key words

Cognitive and affective neuroscience, brain stimulation, behavior, predictive coding

ORCID

0000-0002-0581-2927

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Research interest

My research focuses on how the human brain builds up the auditory world around us to give rise to auditory perception. In particular, I am interested in how the brain models the implicit regularity in the acoustic environment supporting predictive perception, and more recently in how it encodes a particular type of sounds, those of speech, as critical prerequisite towards human communication. My approach is multimodal, including EEG, magnetoencephalography (MEG), structural and functional neuroimaging, and animal models. The results of my research support the emerging view that the subcortical auditory system has complex computation capabilities contributing to auditory cognition. My current projects address speech sounds acquisition in very young infants born normally or after clinical conditions challenging fetal development. Also, I inquiry how the acoustic environment where sounds are heard shapes the way these are perceived, eventually triggering altered states of consciousness.

Key words

Psychology, cognitive neuroscience, attention, auditory perception, speech

ORCID

0000-0001-8203-2951

Resercher ID

A-8658-201

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Research interest

Over the last five years, my research has focused on two main areas: cross-national perspectives on family and household demography and harmonization of international census and survey microdata for social and demographic research. I highlight my cross-national research on the dynamics of marriage markets, the implications of the gender gap reversal in education for assortative mating, the rise of cohabitation and other family forms in the Americas, the relationship between education and age at union formation and childbearing, and global trends in living arrangements. I have done research on population dynamics in Spain focusing on its most pressing demographic challenges: low fertility, aging, and depopulation of rural areas. My work has been published in the top demographic journals.

Key words

population change, family demography, cross-national research, census and survey microdata harmonization

ORCID

0000-0001-9916-386X

Resercher ID

7004709191

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Research interest

My primary goal as a researcher is to examine how to improve movement behaviour (increase physical activity, reduce sedentary behaviour, modify movement patterns) and decrease loneliness in the older adult population in the long term.

We aim to use co-creation as a methodology to develop, implement, and evaluate effective and long-term sustainable intervention programmes and strategies directed at improving movement behaviour of the older adult population with continuous, open collaboration, interactional knowledge production and shared decision-making and ownership among key stakeholders.

We aim to improve functional performance, decrease frailty, and reduce loneliness with the final aim of improving their quality of life applying co-created strategies through an intergenerational approach.

Key words

Participatory research: co-creation; healthy ageing; movement behaviour; loneliness; sedentary behaviour; behaviour change.

ORCID

0000-0003-4449-3524

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Research interest

I'm an applied microeconomist, and my research is in the areas of labor, public, and health economics. I work on questions related to the family (fertility, divorce), labor supply, gender, child health, and the evaluation of the effects of public policies. My most recent publications were in the Journal of Health Economics, the Journal of Human Resources, the Review of Income and Wealth, and PNAS. 

Key words

labor economics, public economics, immigration, family policy, fertility, female labor supply, divorce, child health, gender

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4555-9652

Resercher ID

D-6778-2013

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Research interest

Emergent psychiatric disorders (behavioral addictions [gaming disorder or food addiction]), and high vulnerable patients with mental conditions characterized by low scientific attention and treatment barriers (women, young/old ages, dual psychiatric conditions).

Trans-diagnostic psychiatric dimensions: emotional regulation, impulsivity, and neuropsychological functioning.

Conceptual approach to mental disorders, formulation of causal etiological models, development of assessment tools, and elaboration of preventive and intervention programs based on the precision-medicine-approach.

High expertise in methodology, contributing to incorporate innovative procedures in the psychiatric area (Network Analysis, Latent Growth Curve Modeling, path Structural Equation Modeling, and Survival Analysis). Also contributing to improve treatment plans for mental disorders into the impulsive-compulsive spectrum (including three-generation technological approaches, such serious video games).

Key words

Methodology, Statistics, Psychometry, Design of studies, Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, Eating Disorders, Behavioral Addictions

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6308-3198

Resercher ID

F-9492-2016

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Research interest

My research focus on the analysis of how regulatory governance works in the age of globalization. My primary area of research concentrates on examining the characteristics of regulatory agencies (accountability, independence, responsibilities, etc.) across different sectors and countries all over the world, and how these agencies are involved in global governance.

Granting political independence to most of these agencies was a significant move in the political economy of many countries during the 1990s and 2000s, and I am interested to better understand how this institutional model really works in practice years after. Delegation to regulatory agencies in democratic settings has become widespread, but their accountability to diverse audiences turns to be highly critical.   For this reason, I have focused on examining the political and economic context they operate, as a way to find explanations for agencies’ successes and failures, as well as their vulnerabilities.

Key words

public policy, Institutions, governance, regulation, collective action

ORCID

0000-0003-2700-6747

Resercher ID

C-9097-2014

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Research interest

Professor Le Mens's research focuses on how the social environment and learning processes affect inference, judgment and valuation. His current theoretical focus is on developing models of the influence of categories on inference and valuation, models of how people learn from feedback on Twitter and models of the dynamics of collective valuation (such as online review scores) and popularity. Professor Le Mens tests the predictions of his models using a variety of methods, such as the analysis of text data by fine-tuning state-of-the art language models (BERT and GPT3) and a combination of online and laboratory experiments.

More information is available on Gaël's personal website. Code and open data are available on OSF. 

Key words

Judgment Biases, Decision Making, Learning, Social Influence, Social Dynamics, Organizational Learning

ORCID

0000-0003-4800-0598

Resercher ID

H-9519-2012

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Research interest

His broad research interest is pain and its management, but his current main area of research is pediatric pain, and specifically pediatric chronic pain. His group (ALGOS) is currently developing different Smartphone Apps to help people with pain develop better ways to cope with their health problems.  

Key words

Psychology of pain; Chronic pain; Youth; Disability; Pain management; Pain assessment; m-health

ORCID

0000-0002-1998-6653

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Research interest

The brain consists of 100 billion neurons that work together within intricate networks. The coordination of these neuronal networks ultimately leads to our perception of the world, reasoning and consciousness.  Despite great progress, our current understanding of the brain is still very primitive. For instance, it is not well understood how information is represented in the sensory cortex, and how this information is readout to generate behavior.

In the Theoretical and Cognitive Neuroscience group, we study the link between neuronal activity, perception and behavior. How is sensory information represented in neuronal activity? How is this information readout by downstream neurons to form a perceptual decision or make a choice?

Thus, our work has shed new light over the link between neuronal activity and perception and decision-making. Our next steps will further advance our understanding of this linkage by exploring new territories of behavior.

Key words

reinforcement learning, behavior, decision-making, neuroscience, neural networks

ORCID

0000-0003-0398-014X

Resercher ID

none

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Research interest

His research interests include the Economics of Innovation, theoretical and applied Game Theory, and Contract Theory. He is particularly interested in research that lies in the intersection between fields. For example, he uses matching market models to analyze the optimal incentive contracts in general equilibrium environments. He also builds new datasets to study from both empirical and theoretical points of view research questions such as the dynamics of start-ups, the funding process of researchers, and the influence of institutional investors on firms’ innovation.

Key words

Economics of Innovation, Matching, Game Theory, Economics of Information, Corporate Finance

ORCID

0000‐0002‐1840‐7621

Resercher ID

D‐7585‐2012

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Research interest

X. Pons is interested in Global Change analysis of the Iberian Peninsula, compiling Social, Climate and Remote Sensing (RS) data at detailed spatial and temporal resolution to understand the influences of human and physical drivers over land systems (role of topography, drought, rural abandonment, etc). And also in the quality of Geographic Information. He will address Land Cover Change studies through new paradigms of processing and analysis of RS data, focusing on: 1. Methods: synergy drone+satellite to improve radiometry, capture and processing of the later, solving the treatment in shadowed areas and exploring a new paradigm of data capture that could change nowadays sensors. 2. New paradigms for data analysis: Important inconsistencies appear when map time series are analyzed. Among other improvements, a time link could be used for better machine learning results. This will not only be an academic benefit but will also impact on policies and, ultimately, on the society.

Key words

Geographic Information Science, Earth Observation, Climatology, Geography, Environmental Sciences

ORCID

0000-0002-6924-1641

Resercher ID

N-1202-2014

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Research interest

The scientific contributions by Dr. Sebastián Gallés cluster around the topic of language learning in bilingual contexts. She wants to understand the mechanisms that make possible that young infants acquire a language (or languages) in a short period of time. She also wants to understand the way adult brains get to learn new languages later in life. She is a firm supported of interdisciplinarity and her research is a clear example of it, as it combines fundadmental concepts of linguistics, psychology and neuroscience. 

Her main goal is to understand how the human brain hosts language and how its acquisition and processing changes the brain. 

Key words

psychology, cognitive neuroscience, bilingualism, development

ORCID

0000-0001-6938-2498

Resercher ID

A-4215-2008

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Research interest

Certainly, ideological and issue position differences between parties and their followers lie at the very core of democratic political life, but scholars in the United States have identified another important facet of this topic - citizens’ affective polarisation that arises between partisan and other identity groups and along policy lines. This process goes beyond the traditional ideological/issue based conflicts, emerging along lines drawn by partisan loyalties as well as existing or new emerging identities which increasingly divide the world into in-partisan and out-partisan groups. My research has centred on the study of the factors explaining the increase of this type of polarisation and its attitudinal and behavioral consequences.  Most recent book: De Votantes a Holigans. Polarización Política en España. Madrid, Catarata, 2023.

Key words

Public Opinion, Eleccions, Party Systems, Survey Methodology, Political Behavior

ORCID

0000-0002-0060-1522

Resercher ID

B-8394-2012

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Research interest

Her research has primarily focused on the plurality of systems of rights protection in Europe and the interactions among the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, and constitutional courts; and European constitutionalism and the impact of economic governance. At present, she is developing a line of research on the independence of the international judiciary. The increasing influence and power of international courts has raised concern regarding their legitimacy, which is premised to a large extent upon their independence. The diverse and partial approaches in examining specific courts hinders a meaningful understanding of what judicial independence means and requires in the international sphere. Her main goal is to provide an analytical framework to conceptualize judicial independence at the international level from which to assess, critically examine, and guide institutional design and practice.

 

 

Key words

Fundamental rights in Europe, judicial dialogue, European constitutionalism, international judicial independence

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4478-1008

Resercher ID

L-5922-2014

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Research interest

In my work, I try to understand the impact of several policy interventions on health, the labour market and educational outcomes. I strongly believe that this type of applied research can provide useful tools for policy-makers when designing their interventions. My previous research has focused on the evaluation of policies aimed at promoting the labour market integration of disabled workers in order to provide guidance on the best strategies to foster the employment of this group of workers. My current research concentrates on the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on several health and population outcomes and on the evaluation of changes in the structure of the public health care system to enhance the efficiency and patient satisfaction levels. During the last years, I have also been working on a number of project to understand and document the size and origins of gender biases in medicine.

Key words

policy evaluation, health economics, labor economics, immigration, gender

ORCID

0000-0002-1925-1657

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Research interest

My research interests are focused on the understanding of the neurobiology of several psychiatric disorders, in particular: i) I have contributed to the characterization of the delta opioid receptor and to the study of the function of cannabinoid receptors in various processes, such as depression, addictions and pain. ii) Neurobiological study of cocaine addiction and the possible therapeutic effects of phytocannabinoids. iii) Circadian rhythms and cognition . iv) Neurobiological study of fetal alcoholic syndrome in a mouse model. v) Comorbidity between drug addiction, depressive disorders and cognitive impairments, as well as the analysis of biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Key words

Reward, motivation, cognition, behaviour, foetal alcohol spectrum disorders, cocaine, endocannabinoids.

ORCID

0000-0003-2264-7852

Resercher ID

D-8654-2012

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Research interest

Verger's research examines the relationship between globalization, governance institutions and education policy - i.e. how education policies are formulated, promoted and enacted in different institutional settings, and how these processes impact education quality and equity. In the last years, he has applied this research perspective to the study of public-private partnerships, market reforms and new public management policies in education. Methodologically, his research combines policy convergence analyses in a wide sample of countries with small-ne process-tracing and implementation studies. His work is unique in retriveing the mechansims connecting the logic of adoption of policy instruments at the governent level to the everyday performance of these instruments in different school settings. 

Key words

global education policy; educational reform; comparative education; multi-scalar governance; public-private partnerships; accountability in education; international organisations

ORCID

0000-0003-3255-7703

Resercher ID

L-6581-2014

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Research interest

Her research focuses on how the interaction of genes, person, and environmental factors shape risk and resilience in mental health. This approach challenges the dogma that mental disorders are genetic-based brain illnesses and tests the hypothesis that the genetics of mental disorders are largely the genetics of sensitivity to the psychosocial environment. She examines whether the interaction of psychological sensitivity with both adverse and positive environments impacts negative (psychopathology) and positive (wellbeing, creativity) outcomes, respectively, and its moderation by genetic factors. We use mobile technologies to map real-life person-context interactions and their impact on the dynamic expression of symptoms and wellbeing, which informs clinical diagnoses and helps tailoring individualized treatments. Validation of this framework would challenge our current concept of mental disorders, the pessimistic view of ‘vulnerability’, and their associated stigma.

Key words

Clinical Psychology, Psychosis, Continuum, Gene-person-enviroment interaction

ORCID

0000-0002-8671-1238

Resercher ID

A-9578-2013

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Research interest

My work is situated in the related fields of demography, sociology, and life course research. In my research, I address how demographic and social change relates to and impacts individual life courses in different national contexts, and the consequences of demographic behaviour for social inequality. In particular, I have established myself as a key researcher in family and spatial mobility research adopting comparative and life course approaches. I have innovated in these fields by deploying advanced quantitative methods on large longitudinal datasets, including surveys and administrative registers. My research leadership in this field is evidenced in my engagement in several research projects as a principal investigator, including an ERC Consolidator Grant. My contributions to the field are numerous, including manyfold publications in top-rated journals (e.g. Demography, European Journal of Population,etc.).

Key words

family dynamics, social inequality, spatial mobility, longitudinal analysis, life course

ORCID

0000-0003-4011-2077

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Research interest

My research focuses on various aspects of Urban Economics, ranging from land use regulation and housing markets to transportation in cities, neighborhoods' dynamics, the quality of the urban environment, and the urban political economy. Additionally, I evaluate policies aimed at addressing emerging urban problems. The recently improved geographic detailed data has allowed for more precise geolocation of agents within cities, resulting in more robust analyses. My current research agenda includes investigating the impact of land-use policies on cities' growth, examining the effects of newly implemented urban mobility policies that discourage the use of cars within cities, studying the configuration of cities and their impact on air pollution levels, analyzing the positioning of consumption amenities and their influence on the well-being of city residents, and studying the electoral impact of anti-car policies.

Key words

Urban Economics; Economic Geography; Public Economics

ORCID

0000-0003-3722-2371

Resercher ID

I-5686-2015

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Research interest

As a criminal lawyer, my research was originally mostly theoretical and focused on different aspects related with the general and the special parts of Criminal Law, particularly the attribution of criminal liability in organized structures, economic crimes, and crimes against human rights. The study of criminal conducts against fundamental rights made me change my approach to these phenomena, from a crime-centric to a victim-centric perspective. As a consequence, during almost two decades my research has been focusing on the theoretical and empirical analysis of processes of victimisation and de-victimisation related to different manifestations of gender-based violence, human trafficking and exploitation of human beings, sex work and online sexual violence. The study of these processes is also oriented towards the legal analysis leading to the formulation of a legal status for victims of crime.

Key words

Criminal law, victimology, criminology, victimization processes, gender based violence, human trafficking

ORCID

0000-0002-1791-8788

Resercher ID

M-5044-2013

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Research interest

Troubadour culture, a pillar of European identity, still presents major unexplored issues. After extensive inroads interpreting Cerverí de Girona, the most prolific troubadour, and the Catalan deluxe songbook S^g, literary and historical analysis joined to pioneering digital tools resulted in the Trob-Eu map of troubadour courts linked to a DB, and an exhibition (BdC) that furthered my research scope. Currently I am reassessing three chief issues about troubadour heritage in the Crown of Aragon: the role of non-Catalan troubadours, the impact of verse-narrative and the way songbooks shaped cultural circulation. The discovery of a new songbook is a clear example of the impact of research on Catalan troubadour reception on decoding the entire pan-European tradition. Further leads involve insights on courts as places of power and culture, or troubadour accounts of court experience, cultural routes, power imagery, and social mobility. 

Key words

Medieval Literature, Troubadour Studies, Medieval Courtly Culture, Manuscript Studies, Political Background of Literary Creation, Cultural Heritage, Digital Mapping

ORCID

0000-0002-3898-6026

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Research interest

The PI’s expertise includes Latin American History and the Philippines, with an emphasis on ecclesiastical and early modern history. His education involved the study of Colonial Latin American History and Cultural Anthropology for more than ten years. As a historian, he was trained in history at SUNY at Stony Brook, where he earned his PhD in Latin American History (2001). Afterwards, he deepened this interdisciplinary perspective by collaborating (and publishing) with prestigious anthropologists at the UAB on issues related to ambivalent identities, hibridity, and comparative systems of social classification. He has been visiting professor and researcher in Brasil (Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, UFGD), Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM), and Peru (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, PUCP).

Key words

Ecclesiastical History, Philippines, Jesuits, Colonial History

ORCID

0000-0001-5079-6180

Resercher ID

D-1579-2014

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Research interest

1. Study of cuneiform temple rituals from Babylonia at the British Museum, London and at the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin. Analysis of ritual procedures, spatial dimension of temple ceremonies, cultic itineraries, sacred landscapes and gendered aspects of religion.

2. Study and edition of the Divine Lovel Lyrics, a corpus of cuneiform erotico-religious poetry, research at the Hebrew University Jerusalem (with Nathan Wasserman, HUJ): conceptualization of emotions in the later phase of Mesopotamian culture, their ceremonial actualization, and their literary expression.

3. Research in Neo-Babylonian inscriptions, RIBo Series (http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon7/abouttheproject/index.html) as member of OIMEA, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Germany.

4. Application of Geometric Morphometrics to the study of cuneiform documents (new research line in development!).

Key words

Assyriology, Ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, Cuneiform Palaeography, Iron Age

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7861-6196

Resercher ID

H-2609-2014

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Research interest

Integrating gender studies, intellectual history, value theory and social history, Dr Font’s research examines the marginalization of women’s writing in the early modern period. She studies the ingrained cultural and social dynamics of debasing women’s work that led to a non-assimilation of its value, a process she defines as “textual misogyny”. Envisaging epistemic equality in the short and long term, Font effects a transformative and synergic action across disciplines and practices of feminist criticism that is changing the way we count knowledge-ordering systems and women as equal intellectual partners. Her work provides a model for content-based intellectual recovery in extant, neglected and lost textualities through a qualitative trans-genre methodology in several linguistic contexts, modifying androcentric and binary dynamics of representing valuable thinking. This research seeks the full integration of women in the systems of knowledge production and transmission.

Key words

History of ideas, gender and genre, women's writing, early modern history, print and manuscript culture

ORCID

0000-0003-0752-1717

Resercher ID

R-1940-2017

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Research interest

We have performed statistical analyses of early Neolithic dates in several regions:

1. The western Mediterranean,

2. Scandinavia,

3. The spread of rice in eastern Asia,

4. Bantu expansions in eastern Africa.

My theory (Fort, PNAS 21012) unifies mathematically demic diffusion (spread of farming populations) and cultural diffusion (conversion of hunter-gatherers into farmers). We have applied it and found that demic diffusion was more important than cultural diffusion in case studies 2-4 above, as well as for the LBK, ELP, PP and TRBK cultures in Europe.

My theory (Fort, PNAS 21012) has made it possible to understand a genetic spatial pattern (cline) of Neolithic individuals (Isern, Fort & de Rioja, Sci. Rep. 2017).

I have found a strong effect of non-isotropic dispersal on the rate of human geographical expansions (Fort, Sci. Rep. 2020). This is also important in the context of Paleolithic populations (Fort, Pujol & Cavalli-Sforza 2005).

Key words

Neolithic transitions, demic and cultural diffusion

ORCID

0000-0003-2647-8558

Resercher ID

H-7140-2015

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Research interest

The global resurgence of religious identities and the reconfiguration of political landscapes has a large impact upon European societies. Griera’s research agenda departs from this scenario and focuses on two lines of inquiry.

First, she examines public controversies at the intersection of religion, science and health through a mix-methods research design combining ethnographic work and big data analysis. More specifically, she is interested in exploring trust (and distrust) towards biomedical technologies, and to understand how religious discourses are mobilized to frame, shape and inform political and personal positions.

Second, she focuses on religious diversity and heritage by promoting a reflection around the Mediterranean, and its multi-religious past. She develops empirical research on multi-religious heritage sites as an entry point to analyze how ideas about Europe’s religious past and collective religious memories are mobilized in contemporary political narratives.

Key words

Religious diversity, Interreligious relations, Europe, Religious Heritage, Science & Religion

ORCID

0000-0002-1773-4874

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Research interest

Logic is everywhere. From the most profane circuit design of a computer chip to the most esoteric considerations on the foundations of our thought and of mathematics.

One of my interests concerns the Foundations of Mathematics and its special status among the deductive sciences. I engage in philosophical considerations and at the end of the day I do want theorems about formal systems that describe the foundational considerations. The resulting framework of formal logic is beautiful and the deep results there are interesting in their own right but also because of the foundational relations.

Another line of research applies logical techniques to the field of Artificial Intelligence and Legal Automated Decision making. Here we aim at proper applications of logic and zero-error legal software that respect fundamental civil rights. As soon as software is applied in law, we cannot ask for less than formally verified software.

Surprisingly: both research lines interact intensely!

Key words

Logic and Foundations, Pure and Applied Proof Theory, Software Verification, Formal Methods

ORCID

0000-0001-9590-5045

Resercher ID

AAH-5706-2020

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Research interest

Fostering cohesive and inclusive societies is a vitally important challenge in light of growing inequality, diversity, and polarization. And yet, most research overlooks the inherently relational nature of social cohesion and inclusion, resulting in significant blind spots. Dr. Lubbers advances knowledge in these areas by studying how individuals' webs of personal relationships create society-wide networks that mitigate, sustain, or exacerbate segregation, polarization, and exclusion. She collects new empirical evidence to estimate the properties of these processes in various European societies and studies people's agency in networks. An expert in personal network analysis (e.g., coauthor of the book Conducting Personal Network Analysis: A Practical Guide, 2019; Guilford Press), she also contributes to the development of innovative methods for exploring the micro-level bases of these fundamentally societal processes and connecting them to macro-level outcomes.

Key words

Social Cohesion, Social Inclusion, Polarization, Social Networks, Poverty, Migration, Transnationalism, Network Science, Mixed Methods

ORCID

0000 0001 8398 6044

Resercher ID

P-1250-2018

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Research interest

Over the last years, many regions in the world have experienced dramatic demographic changes, involving decreasing fertility rates and increasing use of reproductive technologies. Barcelona, one of the world’s health hubs, offers a dramatic case study with implications for the public understanding of reproductive politics, governance, and practices, the self and the family. Ongoing research projects: Reproductive governance and mobilities in Europe, North Africa and Latin America, MICINN/EU PID2020112692RB-C21, 223.850€ 2021-25; Austerity and Altered Life-Courses: Socio-Political Ruptures to Family, Employment and Housing Biographies Across Europe, UKRI United Kingdom MR/T043261/1, 1.500.000 pounds, 2021-25; Primary care interventions to prevent maternal and child perinatal heatlh Network's Wp12 Promoting a personalised and family-centred maternal and infant primary health care (RD21/0012/0018), MICINN/EU 124,080€, 2022-24.

Key words

reproductive health, motherhood, Spain, childhood, origins, reproductive governance & mobilities

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2852-3762

Resercher ID

14323695500

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Research interest

Teresa Marques's work specializes on philosophy of language. She also has interests in metaethics, epistemology, feminist philosophy, and legal and social philosophy.

Her recent work focuses on disagreement and conflicts, evaluative and normative discourse, including pejoratives, hate speech, misogyny, conceptual engineering, propaganda, free speech, and the interaction between language and social reality.

With Manuel García-Carpintero, she coordinates a  project on the philosophy of hybrid representations (2021-2024), funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities.

Key words

Conflict, disagreement, derogatory language, hate speech, emotion expression, conceptual variability, collective attitudes, social kinds

ORCID

orcid.org/0000-0002-0161-9142

Resercher ID

M-6056-2013

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Research interest

My research is concerned with how we convey meaning through language. A successful theory of meaning should account for our ability to construct and interpret an infinite variety of complex utterances; it should also explain how we integrate general knowledge, information about the specific individuals and situations we refer to, and information about the structure of the discourses in which we participate. I aim to develop a general theory of meaning that makes testable predictions about the similarities and differences between languages, about human language processing and acquisition, and about language change; one that, eventually, might be computationally implemented. Traditionally, theories of meaning have differed according to whether they take language to signal something in the world versus some sort of conceptual representation. In contrast, the model I am developing explicitly integrates these two approaches to meaning.

Key words

linguistics, semantics, pragmatics, computational semantics

ORCID

0000-0002-3355-913X

Resercher ID

C-2615-2013

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Research interest

Her main interest is related to the role of literature in shaping and responding to intellectual and historical contexts. Her current research focuses on the conflicting literary traditions in Iberia during the 15th century, with special attention to the transitions, interfaces and interactions between Latin and the vernacular, between local traditions and humanism and between the communities involved in literary production at court.

The experimental nature of this period is manifested in the new genres and "newcomers" (converts, "lawyers"(letrados) and women) as active agents in the literary field, which led to its containment as symbolic capital and influence. social. Cancionero's poetry, religious discourse, translations, patronage, and reading have been the subject of her interest; a gender perspective has been incorporated to better understand the role of women and the role of religion in literary circles and in shaping the public sphere.

Key words

Conflicts, humanism, literacy, fifteenth-century literature, courtly culture, women, power, public sphere in the Middle Ages

ORCID

0000-0002-2516-0524

Resercher ID

K-6206-2013

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Research interest

I explore economic practices by focusing on (1) the meanings that produce what is considered valuable, (2) people's understanding of livelihood crises, and (3) comparing expert and folk concepts used to explain economic processes. My research uses an anthropological method stressing ethnographic field work and comparison. Historical path-dependency, forms of institutionalization, and cultural frameworks co-produce differentiation patterns (spatial, social, cultural) that help us understand the economy in a globalized system. The objective of my work is to produce a grounded model of social reproduction processes. Socioecological inequality is my present concern. I investigate valuation processes and valorization practices that affect social, economic, and environmental sustainability. I focus on food systems and compare conventional, organic and agroecological production as they interlock with struggles around socioecological valuation and economic valorization circuits.

Key words

Economic Anthropology, Food production, Social Reproduction, Crisis, Gender relations, Racism, Valuation, Sustainability

ORCID

0000-0001-7390-7840

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Research interest

Dr. Nieto-Galan analyses several historical cases in which science played a key role in the public sphere. As a continuation of his work on science popularization, he develops the "hunger artists" project as an example of intersection between science and spectacle in the late nineteenth century at a global scale.

He also explores the role of science popularization in non-democratic societies such as Franco's dictatorship and its funtction as diplomatic tool in international organizations. He is now editing a collective volume on the role of science popularization at UNESCO in the 1950s.

His analysis of the relation of science and power in the 20th century - in particular, chemistry- has led him to work on toxic products as relevant sociotechnical agents, and on the experts' practices of invisibilization of pollution and risk (agnotology) from a political perspective. He is also working on a biography of chemist and science popularizer Miquel Masriera.

 

Key words

History of Science, History of Chemistry, Science Popularization, Urban History of Science, Science and Power, Science Diplomacy

ORCID

0000-0002-3458-0774

Resercher ID

Civil servant number: 3503259424A0504

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Research interest

My first interest has been focused on human-environment interactions and economic practices in past societies. My research during the last five years has provided outstanding data on plant raw materials used, woodworking techniques, and crafts in prehistoric times in Western Mediterranean during the early Holocene, contributing to widener our knowledge of environmental, economic and social changes. My second focus of interest has been the end of hunter-gatherer societies and the impact of agricultural societies on the environment. I conducted this research primarily at the sites of La Draga (Banyoles, Girona, Spain) (5300-4900 cal BC) and Coves del Fem (Ulldemolins, Tarragona, Spain) (6000-4500 cal BC). The research has demonstrated the importance of these archaeological sites for explaining the Neolithization process in northeastern Iberia and has provided outstanding data on the landscape, technology, and resource management.

Key words

Prehistory, Archaeobotany, Early Farming, Hunter-gatherers

ORCID

0000-0002-8253-6874

Resercher ID

H-9315-2015

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Research interest

My main scientific activity is focused on the emergence and decline of new forms of political and economic domination during Later Prehistory, following five lines of research:

1.  Investigation of disrutpive societies and economies during later Prehistory.

2. The projection of historical questions arising from research on the first state and proto-state societies, seeking to account for observable socioeconomic convergences and divergences in Europe and the Mediterranean.

3. The development of an interdisciplinary methodology for macrolithic tool analysis, as an essential tool towards a better understanding of prehistoric economies.

4. The advance of a general theory of political economy that accounts for the different strategies to produce and circulate economic surplus, as an indispensable element in the rise of social exploitation. 

5. The effects of migratory movements and integration mechanisms on social and political change.

Key words

Prehistory, Geoarchaeology, Archaeometallurgy, aDNA, Paleoecology, Paleoeconomy

ORCID

orcid.org/0000-0001-8534-5806

Resercher ID

L-4115-2014

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Research interest

I have studied the axes of cohesion in late-medieval European society, analysing the levels of shared identity with a common memory orientated by dominant ideology, looking for the expressiveness and emotiveness of the experienced power. I stated that the values assumed by the society in search of its own cohesion based on different levels of collective identity (municipal, estate, guild, national) but provoked the rejection of diverse people, as Jews and Muslims. From a methodological point of view I have focussed on archive sources, especially from the Crown of Aragon. I have contrasted the data obtained with diverse places and international research groups, sharing research projects from competitive calls and seminars, scientific meetings and congresses (Paris, 2022;  Bordeaux, 2022, Saint-Etienne, 2020; Fortaleza, Warsaw, 2019; Vicenza, 2018; Wroclaw, Alexandria, 2017). The results of the research have been published in highly valued journals and in well recognized publishers.

Key words

Medieval history, Power, Institutions, Territory, Society

ORCID

0000-0001-7312-1119

Resercher ID

K-8030-2015

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Research interest

Maria Saña’s research focuses on the origins and changing nature of animal domestication. Recent research dealt with the study of the origins of the Neolithic, working in Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa. Interested in archaeozoology, she directs her research towards the adaptation of new analytical procedures based on biogeochemistry and bone biomechanics to the study of the archaeological record. Current research is focused on two areas, exploring diverse converging lines linked to the study of first farming societies. In the first area, research has concentrated on the origins of Neolithic societies, by obtaining the data needed to attain a global perspective of the environmental, economic, social, and political changes during the early Holocene. Research in methodology has focused on the integration in archaeozoological studies of stable isotopes and palaeoproteomics-based analyses with the aim of achieving greater temporal and historical resolution of bioarchaeological samples.

Key words

Bioarchaeology, Neolithic, Mediterranean, Animal domestication, stable isotopes, palaeoproteomics

ORCID

0000-0002-8344-0639

Resercher ID

L-9965-2014

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Research interest

L.S. has developed a multidisciplinary approach integrating multi-archive datasets into a 4-D time-space model of past floods, environments and societal impacts in mountain landscapes. In generating centennial-long reference flood records for the Alps, New Zealand’s Alps and the Iberian Peninsula, documentary sources, floodplain and lake sediments and their geochemical variability were analysed; floods levels were reconstructed from tree rings, lichens, historical buildings, hydraulic infrastructure, and archaeological sites; and, this evidence was calibrated for a given reference period in relation to climatological and hydrological data. Analyses of atmospheric variability, reconstruction of the paleoclimate and deciphering of the historical interactions between society and river environments, shed light on the forcing of floods. Preindustrial climate periods were also examined to understand changes in environmental systems and flood dynamics under the effects of Global Warming.

Key words

Geography, Global Change, natural hazards and societal impact, floods, human-environment interaction, Climate Change, mountain environments, geoarchaeology

ORCID

0000-0001-5829-3166

Resercher ID

Scopus Author ID: 7003971543

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Research interest

Professor Vallverdú's research spans two primary areas: computational epistemology and cognition. In the last years of this research, his attention has turned to the causal challenges posed by machine learning techniques, particularly within Deep Learning. He recently authored the book "Causality for Artificial Intelligence" (Springer, 2024, ISBN: 978-981-97-3186-2) and is nearing completion of another titled "Prompting Causal Events" (Springer, 2024). These publications signal a new analysis, emphasizing the transition from prompting techniques to Large Language Model (LLM) training methodologies.

Key words

Causality, Generative AI, LLM, Epistemology, Deep Learning, Statistics, Cognition, Counterfactual Reasoning.

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9975-7780

Resercher ID

http://www.researcherid.com/rid/K-5536-2014

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Research interest

My project seeks to understand the categories of dissent in the 16th and 17th centuries (1540-1620) through the study of theological notes and the theory of error. In early modern Europe, the ‘notes’ served to identify and diagnose doctrinal error, and to qualify propositions and texts (propositiones damnabiles) according to their distance from theological certainties or from social consensus. Notes theory laid down the language, metaphors, and principles that guided the intellectual, political, and inquisitorial management of dissent in Catholic countries, and played a constitutive role in setting the conceptual and practical limits of freedom of conscience and expression in early modern Europe.

Key words

dissent, censure, censorship, expurgation, early modern textual legacy

ORCID

0000-0001-9755-7881

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Research interest

Professor Àlex Arenas is a pioneer in the field of complex systems, which involves the study of emergent phenomena that arise from the interconnection of simple elements in complex networks, with particular focus on epidemic spreading, synchronization and congestion processes. His research, which stems from the school of Professor Giorgio Parisi, has led to important scientific discoveries and the development of advanced techniques for the analysis of complex networks. Professor Arenas has made significant contributions to the understanding of explosive synchronization phenomena, the mathematical formulation of complex multilayer networks, and the modeling of various dynamics. His work has been cited thousands of times in literature and presented at workshops and conferences around the world. The scientific community recognizes his contributions to the advancement of basic science with wide-ranging applications.

Key words

complex networks, epidemic spreading, multiplex networks, modular structure, synchronisation, game theory, personalised medicine

ORCID

orcid.org/0000-0003-0937-0334

Resercher ID

A-5216-2009

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Research interest

My main research lines are the following:
A) Design and preparation of molecules for Quantum Computing (QC) through the coherent manipulation of spins. This is pursued by preparing molecules that incorporate the spin carriers leading to the appropriate energy spectrum and quantum dynamic properties. The goal is to use them for the construction of hybrid quantum devices.
B) Preparation and study of switchable materials based on spin crossover (SCO). We develop new SCO materials for exploiting their potential in nanotechnology, by studying and enhancing their dynamic properties in relation to intermolecular interactions. The switching properties upon exchange of small molecules with the environment are studied.
C) Preparation of magnetic photoswitchable molecules. We design photomagnetic molecules by the synthesis of ligands with photoactive moieties and their magnetic complexes.

D) Preparation Functional Supramolecular Assemblies. By ligand design and coordination chemistry.

Key words

Coordination Chemistry, Molecular Magnetism, Single Molecule Magnets, Quantum Computing, Functional Molecules

ORCID

0000-0002-0997-9484

Resercher ID

I-2483-2015

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Research interest

His research interests are focused on the study of complex systems. In particular, those systems made up of a large number of units that interact through complex topologies and, therefore, are suitable to be studied using statistical physics tools. Such systems are ubiquitous and can be found in very diverse fields: societies at the large scale, cellular networks, or communication networks like the Internet, to name just a few. One of the major challenges in this field is the understanding of the coupling between the complex topologies shown by these type of systems and the functions they perform. M. Boguñá is one of the major proponents of the new field of Network Geometry, a theory aiming at finding the geometric origin of the discrete structures underlying complex systems.

Key words

Complex Systems, Complex Networks, Network Geometry, Statistical Physics

ORCID

0000-0001-7833-3487

Resercher ID

B-7795-2011

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Research interest

I have focused my research on the ecology of river ecosystems, combining fundamental, applied, and social aspects. I have been interested in understanding the effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on freshwater biodiversity to improve river conservation and management worldwide, and how citizens can contribute to this research and benefit from it. My studies have been conducted in different river ecosystems of the world and at different scales (continental, regional, local) but, in particular, on temporary rivers and in Mediterranean regions. For Mediterranean rivers, where drying has triggered many evolutionary adaptations and are especially biodiverse, I have shed light on: 1) how this biodiversity is organised in space and time to cope with drying, 2) how human activities are jeopardizing Mediterranean rivers, 3) how these should be managed to halt biodiversity loss and ensure healthy ecosystems, and 4) how we can effectively engage citizens in research and management.

Key words

Community ecology, Freshwater ecosystems, Freshwater biodiversity, Rivers and Streams, Disturbance ecology, Macroinvertebrates,, Management and Conservation

ORCID

0000-0002-2983-3335

Resercher ID

L-5137-2015

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Research interest

She is specialist in the reconstruction of past climatic variability and its relation to oceanographic changes. Her research is based on the application of several geochemical tools on deep marine sediments and cave speleothems. She has a long experience studding the impact of past rapid climate variability in the Mediterranean region, being pioneer in stablishing its connection with North Atlantic circulation. Currently, she is very much focused in analyzing the sensitivity of the Mediterranean circulation system to different climate forcings in base to innovative geochemical tracers that had led her to the implementation new analytical infrastructures in the UB.

Key words

Paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, deep sea sediments, speleothems, global change, radiogenic isotopes

ORCID

0000-0002-6512-0770

Resercher ID

H-4402-2013

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Research interest

My expertise is on Quantum Information and my research interest revolve around two main areas.

Non-classicality: I made contributions in characterizing and quantifying non-classical resources such as  entanglement, coherence and non-classicality of light. Of particular interest are those traits that bring about a quantum advantage in performing particular tasks. Examples of such tasks that I have contributed to are blind purification, direction hiding and entanglement percolation in complex networks.

Quantum Statistical Inference, or how to interpret and process acquired quantum measurement data to infer some property of the system. This research has generated results in quantum sequential analysis, quantum learning,  quantum metrology, and quantum hypothesis testing. 

I am also proud to see myself taking part in training the next generation of quantum physicists who will help to understand and transform the world through quantum sciences.

Key words

Quantum Information, Quantum optics, Machine Learning and Statistical Inference, Complex Systems

ORCID

orcid.org/0000-0003-1735-1360

Resercher ID

A-5201-2010

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Research interest

Our research is rooted in the areas of Statistical and Nonlinear Physics. Within the study of nonequilibrium phenomena, our current focus is mostly in biophysics. We pursue a physical approach to selected biological problems, from molecular to cellular and multicellular scales. Our approach emphasizes collective and emerging phenomena, while exploiting the tools of nonlinear physics. The aim is to search for generic mechanisms and general principles that underlie living matter, at the higher levels of biological organization. This includes for instance the study of cell mechanics, collective cell migration, or neuronal networks.  By pursuing the ultimate nonequilibrium phenomenon, life itself, we also expect to unveil new fundamental physics concealed by biological complexity. Our insights may also be relevant to biomedical applications. Finally, we are interested in fundamental aspects of ‘active matter’, such as the search for universality in active turbulence.

Key words

cell biophysics, tissue mechanics, neuronal cultures, active matter, nonlinear physics, nonequilibrium physics, fluid dynamics, turbulence

ORCID

0000-0002-6154-439X

Resercher ID

S-8777-2016

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Research interest

My research is on the field of Integrative Biochemistry with a focus on systems biology, metabolomics, and fluxomics. We have been performing cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in the field of metabolic alterations associated with multifactorial diseases and drug discovery. The main goal has been to contribute to the understanding of the complete breadth of metabolic abnormalities in multifactorial diseases and to identify novel therapeutic targets and predictive biomarkers. We identified and validated targetable metabolic vulnerabilities for metastatic colon cancer (Càncers 2022) and we demonstrated a key role of PDK1 in AML, unveiling that lactate-fuelled respiration is a vulnerable metabolic flexibility in FLT3-ITD+ subtype (Nature Communications 2022). We patented a pharmaceutical combination targeting CDK4/6 and glutaminase -PCT/EP2016/067524 and a Transcriptomic Signature (IMMETCOLS) to stratify solid tumors and predict response to immune checkpoint inhibitors-EP21382772.

Key words

Metabolism, Fluxomics, Metabolic modelling, Systems Medicine

ORCID

0000-0002-2062-4633

Resercher ID

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J5RXcScAAAAJ&hl=en

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Research interest

My research is focused on the activation of small molecules using first row transition metals for the transformation of C−H bonds into C−C, C−O, C−N or C−Cl bonds, which are processes of fundamental importance in organic synthesis. Traditional methods rely on the use of stoichiometric reagents that generate high amounts of waste and require relatively harsh reaction conditions. The use of metal catalysts can overcome these limitations affording the activation of C−H bonds under mild reaction conditions and with improved selectivities. In my group we pay special attention at the characterization of the elusive active species involved in these transformations, that is high-valent metal-oxygen, metal-nitrogen or metal-carbon species, by means of several spectroscopic techniques. A profound undertanding of their structures and reactivities will ultimately lead to the design of synthetic catalysts with improved performance for the functionalization of C−H bonds.

Key words

Bioinorganic chemistry, catalysis, organometallic chemistry, first-row transition metals, reaction intermediates

ORCID

000-0003-4845-4418

Resercher ID

B-4121-2014

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Research interest

I work in Dynamical Systems, a wide field which connects different areas of mathematics but it also links mathematics to real life problems in many areas of science and technology . 

My expertise resides in studying dynamical systems from a complex (as opsosed to real) point of view, an area known as complex dynamics, at the intersection between dynamics, complex analysis and topology. Locating an analyzing different types of invariant objects like stable equilibria of these systems (attracting fixed or periodic obits) and the boundaries of their basins of attraction (often fractals known as Julia sets) is a central problem in dynamics, and is at the core of my research. These fractals present many challenges to researchers in complex analysis, topology, geometry and even number theory.

In recent years, my focus has been on the global dynamics of Newton's method, the general theory of meromorphic maps and  applications to mathematical biology. 

Key words

Dynamical systems, iteration, complex variable, Julia set, Fatou set, fractal geometry, bifurcations, chaos

ORCID

0000-0002-5466-0579

Resercher ID

D-4403-2014

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Research interest

The long-term goal of my lab is to understand how the behavior of living systems (specifically cells and tissues) emerges from the interactions among their components (genes and proteins within cells, and cells within tissues). To pursue that goal, we use the inherently nonlinear and dynamical character of biological systems, both deterministic and stochastic, as a constraint to identify the operating principles through which living matter self-organizes in space and time. Our work involves a close interplay between experimental observations and theoretical/computational approaches coming from statistical and nonlinear physics. The phenomena that we study include the coordination of dynamical processes in single cells, the origins and effects of randomness and heterogeneity in cellular behavior, and the response of cells and organs (such as the brain) to time-varying environments. The organisms studied range from bacteria to humans.

Key words

Nonlinear and statistical physics, systems biology, systems neuroscience, complex systems

ORCID

0000-0002-3716-7520

Resercher ID

A-4574-2009

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Research interest

Her research interests mainly focused on understanding the responses of marine benthic ecosystems to global change. Her research is highly collaborative and combines long-term series data, experimental studies using in situ and aquaria experiments as well as modeling tools through demographic and spatial models.  Most of the results derived from hre research activity intended to contribute to the conservation of marine ecosystems and this is reflected in several activities of knowledge transfer to national and international entities and public administrations.

Key words

Marine Ecology, Conservation Biology, Global Change, Marine Protected Areas, Restoration

ORCID

0000-0003-3855-2743

Resercher ID

A-5244-2018

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Research interest

His main area of research is forest functional ecology, at the interface between plant biology and Earth sciences. His work combines different scales and approaches (observational, experimental, modelling, big data approaches using large datasets) to understand how forests function and how they, and the ecosystem services they provide, are affected by environmental changes. In particular, his current research focuses on (1) understanding fundamental aspects of the water and carbon economy of plants, with a focus on long-distance water transport; (2) characterizing how plant functional traits vary and coordinate in space and time and how they can be integrated to define synthetic axes of plant resource use; and (3) improving our capacity to predict how warmer and drier climates will change forest function and dynamics.

Key words

drought, forest ecology, functional traits, global change, long-distance transport in plants

ORCID

0000-0002-2332-7298

Resercher ID

D-3385-2014

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Research interest

 Pietro Massignan is a theoretical condensed matter physicist dealing with problems at the intersection of atomic physics, quantum optics, photonics, and solid state physics.

 His main field of interest is the theory of ultracold quantum gases. His current research aims at studying static and out-of-equilibrium properties of magnetic, superfluid, and strongly-interacting phases from both the few-body and the many-body sides.

 Most recently, he focused specifically on models with non-trivial topology implemented in ultracold atoms, as well as in photonic and polaritonic setups. He is also actively investigating quasiparticle physics, superfluid vortex dynamics, periodic driving, strong losses and disorder.

 He particularly enjoys the stimulating contact with experimental colleagues, and with students. He has by now acquired a solid teaching experience at both under-graduate and post-graduate levels, and he supervised various Master and PhD students.

Key words

many-body properties of quantum mixtures; superfluid phenomena; synthetic gauge fields; topological order; open quantum systems; interplay between interactions, topology and disorder; scattering theory; few-body systems; reduced dimensions

ORCID

0000-0003-1545-792X

Resercher ID

A-4429-2009

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Research interest

Miranda's research is at the crossroad of Differential Geometry, Mathematical Physics and Dynamical Systems. More recently, she added to her research agenda some mathematical aspects of theoretical computer science in connection to Fluid Dynamics.

Almost a decade ago she pioneered the investigation of b-Poisson manifolds. These structures appear naturally in physical systems on manifolds with boundary and on problems on Celestial mechanics such as the 3-body problem.

In 2021 she constructed a Turing complete 3D Euler flow. This result not only proves the existence of undecidable paths in hydrodynamics but also closes an open question in the field of computer science (the existence of "fluid computers").

Miranda's research strives to decipher the several levels of complexity in Geometry and Fluid Dynamics. She endeavours to extend Floer homology and the singular Weinstein conjecture to the singular set-up motivated by the search of periodic orbits in Celestial Mechanics.

 

Key words

Differential Geometry, Symplectic Geometry, Poisson Geometry, Hamiltonian Dynamics, Contact Geometry, Fluid Dynamics

ORCID

0000-0001-9518-5279

Resercher ID

L-4261-2014

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Research interest

His research interests cus in the physics of soft matter and the understanding of emerging structures and phases in these sytems, both in and out of equilibrium. His research aims at the theoretical knowledge of the collective behaviour of complex physico-chemical systems. He has studied the mechanical properties of granular materials, the electrokinetics of complex and confined systems, the stability of capillary and confined fluid mixtures, and the physics of microswimmers. He has developed and exploited novel mesosocopic methods to analyze the dynamics of soft materials and has benefited from supercoputing facilities, such as MareNostrum. Currently he is also interested in the study of biologically inspired systems, such as active matter or the physics of molecular motors. He has been invited professor at Paris-Sud University (2002), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (2003), University of Edinburgh (2005) and TU Berlin (2010). He has supervised 8 PhD theses.

Key words

Soft matter, active fluids, colloidal systems, capillarity, granular materials

ORCID

0000-0002-6187-5025

Resercher ID

A-8867-2010

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Research interest

Prof. Peiró promoted the development of transmission electron microscopy with aberration correction in the UB context by fostering and leading the project MERIT, Advanced electron microscopy for research, innovation and knowledge transfer (Ref. IU16-015923), Generalitat de Catalunya – UE FEDER. The main research interests are:

- In situ TEM techniques for electrical measurements

- Beam precession techniques and 4D scanning-transmission electron diffraction with beam precession to map stress distribution in III-V semiconducting optoelectronic materials

- Electron tomography for the 3D reconstruction of nanostructures.

- Understanding magnetic behavior of magnetic nanoparticles, nanowires and complex 3D architectures through electron holography and electron magnetic circular dichroism (EMCD).

- Artificial intelligence algorithms for EELS data analysis.

- TEM techniques and EELS spectroscopy applied to materials for fuel cells and all-solid-state batteries.

Key words

Transmission Electron Microscopy,Nanotechnology, Nanostructured Materials,Optoelectronics,Spintronics, Energy

ORCID

0000-0002-5697-0554

Resercher ID

N-4436-2014

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Research interest

My research interests have been focused on two main topics: understanding the mechanism involving mainly organometallic steps; and study of new tools that might rationalize or put in order by means of descriptors the catalytic performance.

The computational research has been carried out by DFT. The main topics where I have centered my efforts include olefin metathesis by Ru-based catalysts or gold chemistry to undertake organometallic reactions, and currently switching to green chemistry to remove and/or not generate CO₂: either water oxidation catalysis or alcohol transformation to aldehydes with generation of H₂ as energy source.

Although more than half of my computational projects tried to give insight to experimental issues, another precious part tries to make a step forward, in terms of prediction of reactivity, generating computational tools that are user friendly for experimentalists, like web servers to define sterics of ligands.

 

Key words

catalysis, organometallic chemistry, DFT calculations, pharmaceutical industry, green chemistry

ORCID

0000-0002-8997-2599

Resercher ID

D-6586-2013

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Research interest

Research in the PI’s group swings among three main projects; a) Strong bond activation (C-H, C-F and C-OMe) and functionalization of arenes through organometallic species, b) Supramolecular nanocapsules for the regioselective functionalization of fullerenes and c) (Enantio)selective catalysis at the confined space. 

a) C-H, C-F and C-OMe activation and functionalization of arenes through organometallic species have resulted in a number of studies involving fundamental comprehension of these reactions, involving aryl-Fe(II), aryl-Co(III), aryl-Ni(II), aryl-Cu(III), aryl-Ag(III) and aryl-Au(III) species in model platforms

b) In the supramolecular chemistry project, cutting-edge advances have been done by the PI research team in fullerene recognition and purification, as well as in fullerene regio-functionalization using self-assembled nanocapsules as supramolecular masks

c) Development of enantioselective catalysis at the confined space of nanocapsules

 

Key words

Supramolecular self-assembled nanocapsules, Supramolecular purification of fullerenes and endohedral metallofullerenes (EMF), Regioselective functionalization of confined fullerenes, Earth-abundant Metal C-H, C-F and C-OMe functionalization catalysis

ORCID

0000-0002-2850-4409

Resercher ID

F-3945-2014

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Research interest

Dr. Ritort’s scientific research is multidisciplinary at the frontiers of physics, chemistry, and biology. Small Biosystems lab is a reference worldwide in merging theory and experiments to investigate the thermodynamics and nonequilibrium behavior of small systems using single-molecule methods. He applies the finest concepts and tools from statistical physics to extract valuable information about a wide range of molecular processes: from the folding of nucleic acids and proteins to binding kinetics in proteins, peptides, and other macromolecular complexes. A recurring theme in his research is understanding how molecular systems embedded in noisy thermal environments outperform the efficiency of macroscopic systems: being small has advantages that nature has exploited. He has recently directed his interest to study energy and information and search for principles that govern the emergent complexity of evolutionary ensembles in the molecular and cellular world.

Key words

Statistical physics, Molecular biophysics

ORCID

0000-0002-4869-5003

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Research interest

In 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute established seven Prize Problems, conceived to record some of the most important problems with which mathematicians were grappling at the turn of the second millennium. One of these problems is the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer (BSD) on the arithmetic of elliptic curves. My research is devoted to this question and generalizations of it within the scenario provided by the Langlands program, due to Stark for Artin representations and to Beilinson, Bloch and Kato for arbitrary motives.

I have been working on proving new cases of the BSD Conjecture (posed in 1965), the Bloch-Kato conjecture (1990), Darmon’s conjecture on Stark-Heegner points (1999), the elliptic Stark conjecture (2015), Venkatesh’s conjecture (2018) among other outstanding problems. I have also built new research directions on  Euler systems and the p-adic Kudla program.

Key words

Shimura varieties, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, Elliptic curves, L-functions, Motivic Cohomology

ORCID

0000-0002-5293-4425

Resercher ID

A-1732-2019

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Research interest

My research focused on two main topics, Molecular Magnetism and Molecular Electronics (Spintronics):

Regarding my expertise in Molecular Magnetism, my theoretical studies are benchmark results in such field. Now, my group also performs the synthesis and structural-magnetic characterization, triggering my independence on the choice of systems and speeding up outcomes. Such research is mainly devoted to finding molecules with long coherence times that can act as spin qubits.

In Molecular Electronics, I mainly focus on single-molecule junctions with magnetic molecules. One of my breakthroughs is single-molecule devices showing magnetoresistance behavior at room temperature. In this research topic, I perform the theoretical analysis using DFT calculations as well as the conductance measurements with scanning tunneling microscopes.

In both research topics, I have many collaborations with world-leading experimental groups to complete the understanding through theoretical studies.

Key words

molecular magnetism, theoretical chemistry, molecular spintronics, density functional theory

ORCID

0000-0001-9097-8499

Resercher ID

A-6268-2011

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Research interest

Energy, catalyis and environment are related issues with important socio-economic output. My reserach in artificial photosynthesis is focused on the study, comprehension and development of the key reactions involved in the cost-efficient renewable production of H₂ and liquid carbon-neutral fuels from CO₂. The SelOxCat group tackles this major issue from two different perspectives:  

- Nanoscaled molecular-material hybrid (photo)electrocatalysts: tailored  design of tunable metal/metal-oxide based molecular-material hybrids to understand the fundamental principles that dictate selectivity, efficiency and durability.

- Molecular-based (photo)electrodes: novel catalyst-electrode interfaces to boost current densities and long-term stabilities enabling their inclusion in practical photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices. 

 

Key words

Redox Catalysis, Energy, Artificial Photosynthesis, Water Splitting, Hydrogen, Nanocatalysis, Homogeneous Catalysis

ORCID

0000-0002-7779-6313

Resercher ID

N-7363-2013

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Research interest

Since 2009, we have lead the development of generative group-based models for complex networks amenable to Bayesian inference. Recently, we have developed Bayesian methods for model selection in a wide array of network types and contexts including: bioinformatics, molecular biology and physiology, ecology,  human decision-making, and science of science.

We have recently developed what we call a Bayesian machine scientist, an algorithm that can automatically obtain mathematical expressions from data by assessing their plausibility. The BMS solves caveats from current approaches to the symbolic regression problem and, by exploiting the deep connection between probability theory and statistical physics, can perform proper model averaging, thus opening another chapter in the ability of symbolic regression approaches to rival 'black box' methods in predicting unobserved data.

Key words

complex networks; complex systems; statistical inference

ORCID

0000-0002-8140-6525

Resercher ID

C-1725-2008

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Research interest

Her research focuses on the environmental drivers of marine ecosystems. Based on a detailed geochemical characterisation of marine snow falling from upper waters and seafloor sediments (bulk composition and stable isotopes, biomarkers, major and trace elements, organic pollutants, and plastic), and the understanding of the external (climatic/meteorologic) and internal (oceanographic) forcing conditions, she aims at unravelling deep water formation and thermohaline circulation, biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functioning, and changes in the marine system resulting from anthropogenic drivers. She has significant interests in issues of direct societal concern, such as plastic pollution, deep sea mining and the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. Most of the results derived from her research activities have attracted the attention of the media, and now she is leading a new research line based on citizen science to engage the general public in scientific research activities.

Key words

microplastics, marine pollution, oceanography, dense water formation

ORCID

0000-0002-8209-1959

Resercher ID

B-6919-2016

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Research interest

The core of my research aims at solving current environmental and energetic issues by means of computational chemistry simulations, often explaining or guiding experiments, focused on developing or improving thermo-, electro, or photocatalysts. The emphasis is put on reusing greenhouse gas CO₂ and generating H₂ in a green and sustainable fashion by using. e.g., solar light and H₂O as chemical feedstock. The research mainly focuses on studying two-dimensional materials, either C-based (graphene, graphynes, grazynes, COFs) or layered transition metal carbides and nitrides (called MXenes) for such reactions, but also other high-surface area transition metals, alloys, and metal oxides and carbides, including single-, few-atoms-, cluster- and nanoparticle model catalysts. Biomass related compound treatments are also investigated on such materials, including biogas upgrading and biofuel deoxygenation processes.

Key words

Heterogeneous Catalysis, Electrocatalysis, Photocatalysis, Nanotechnology, Metal Carbides, MXenes, Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Carbon Allotropes

ORCID

0000-0001-9987-8654

Resercher ID

F-6277-2015

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Research interest

The overarching research vision can be synthesized as "Designing Complexity in Systems Interplaying Communications and Computing”. The pursuit is to crystallize a design methodology for systems with extreme complexity, including communication and computing functions with limited energy resources, of large scale, distributed architectures, heterogeneous components and strict system-wide performance attributes, through emergent technologies of communications, computing and processing. The need of structured design methodologies for systems of increasing complexity requires vertical crosslayer model-based approaches including AI surrogates. The aim is to instantiate this methodology of complex system design with resilient, evolvable and robust attributes to both future spacecraft architectures, and to future domain-specific computing platforms with built-in advanced wireless communications, encompassing Graph Neural Networks co-processors and Quantum Computing architectures.

Key words

Wireless on-chip. Artificial Intelligence co-processors chips: Graph Neural Networks and In-memory computing. Quantum computing architectures. Nanosatellite constellation design. Energy-constrained design.

ORCID

0000-0001-7663-7153

Resercher ID

Eduard Alarcon

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Research interest

- Biomedical devices. Multi-responsive hybrid systems for the development of multi-tasking biomedical devices, as for example: scaffolds for simultaneous drug release and real-time monitoring; smart devices responsive to chemical and physical (temperature and/or pressure) stimuli; implants with sensors for monitoring bacterial infections; nanomembranes for the selective transport of metabolites while promote preferential cell migration.

- Metal-Free Electronic Devices. Rechargeable, flexible and compressible supercapacitors with electrodes constructed using plasma-treated polymers and/or conducting biohydrogels; soft and self-healable pressure sensors; 2D-organic Faradaic motors.

- Electrothermal catalysis using polarized bioceramics. Permanently polarized bioceramics, especially hydroxyapatite, for their application as catalyst in sustainable processes (fixation of N2, CO2 and other greenhouses gases under mild reaction conditions). Production of ethanol, ammonium or urea.

Key words

Conducting polymers, Bioactive platforms, Biointerfaces, Detection, Controlled release, Polarized hydroxyapatite, Catalysis, Nanotechnology

ORCID

0000-0003-4462-6075

Resercher ID

AAA-9954-2020

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Research interest

Dr Arroyo’s research aims to develop theoretical and computational models for the mechanobiology biological interfaces, cells and tissues, with the goal of quantitatively understanding these systems, rationally manipulating active living materials and engineering new bionic materials. Together with an interdisciplinary group, he combines mathematical and physical modeling, mechanics and computations in tight interaction with quantitative observation to understand out-of-equilibrium chemo-mechanical phenomena associated with mechanical biological functions, including motility, morphogenesis and homeostasis. He is also interested in distilling the engineering principles underlying biological system to conceive and build bio-inspired devices and materials.

 

Key words

Computational mechanics, theoretical and applied mechanics, 2D materials, mechanobiology, biophysics, biomembranes, multiscale modeling

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1647-940X

Resercher ID

B-5696-2008

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Research interest

Albert Atserias' research interests are in the theory of computation, logic, and combinatorics. He specializes in computational complexity theory, the field that studies the limitations of algorithms and of computing devices. The ultimate goal of his research is to understand the nature of computation to be able to classify all computational problems as efficiently solvable or intrinsically intractable, and to leverage this understanding to discover new algorithmic methods to tackle current boundary problems. As long-term research project, he has the goal of establishing certain forms of the leading conjectures in the area, such as a weak form of Millenium Problem P vs NP, by focussing on non-standard models of computation that arise from the study of weak formal systems. The hope is that these weak forms of the conjectures could suffice to produce some of their consequences, such as the existence of pseudorandom generators for algorithms and cryptography, with provable guarantees.

Key words

theory of computation, computational complexity theory, mathematical logic, combinatorics, probability theory

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3732-1989

Resercher ID

Albert Atserias

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Research interest

Prof. Barlet-Ros investigates how the latest developments in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be leveraged to improve the management, supervision and optimization of computer networks. His research interests also include cybersecurity and online privacy. In particular, he will use the ICREA Academia award to intensify the development of an AI-based Network Digital Twin (NDT). A NDT is a virtual representation of the network that will allow network practitioners and researchers to model the intricacies of real-world networks in a faster, cheaper and more secure way. This technology will represent a significant breakthrough in how networks are currently operated and managed at multiple levels (e.g., network planning, troubleshooting, optimization, performance evaluation or what-if analysis). The NDT paradigm has recently raised major interest in both the industry and SDOs (IETF, ITU).

Key words

computer networks, machine learning, cybersecurity, online privacy, network monitoring

ORCID

0000-0001-7837-0886

Resercher ID

L-5022-2014

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Research interest

Graph Neural Network (GNN) is a new family of neural nets that have been proposed with the aim of learning graphs. GNNs facilitate the learning of relations between entities and show outstanding generalization capabilities. GNNs are not a black-box that simply map input to output labels from the dataset, as a consequence novel GNN architectures are required to tackle different problems. The introduction of Convolutional Neural Networks radically changed the field of computer vision. We argue that Graph Neural Networks will have a similar impact and represent a breakthrough for many fields that fundamentally operate with graphs. We plan to push progress on the theoretical foundations of Graph Neural Networks driven by relevant industrial use-cases.

Key words

Computer Networks, Graph Neural Networks, Deep-Reinforcement Learning, Graphene, Nanotechnology

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Research interest

The period 2013-2017 I enjoyed an ICREA Academia grant, giving me more time to devote to research and supervising researchers (master students, PhD students and post-doctoral fellows). Following my research plans, I started to work on thermochemical energy storage, not leaving at all also the research with sensible heat storage and latent heat storage. In the area of thermochemical energy storage, I have worked on the development of the technology of sorption for heating and cooling of buildings. In this area, I have co-authored different journal papers, I am co-supervising a PhD student, and I participate in three H2020 projects, showing the success in being recognized as expert on the topic already today.

 

Key words

energy, heat transfer, solar energy, thermodynamics, thermal energy storage, energy efficiency

ORCID

0000-0001-5086-872X

Resercher ID

B-4587-2013

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Research interest

Design of numerical algorithms. Stabilized finite element schemes, approximate imposition of boundary conditions, fractional step schemes in time, eigen-problems, adaptivity, domain decomposition, coupling of multi-physics, and reduced order models.  My work ranges from the design of the numerical methods to their mathematical analysis. Reduced order models have been my most active area of research since 2017. Topology optimization and the application of artificial intelligence to computational mechanics are new research lines.

Physical applications and turbulence.  Numerical modeling of fluid-structure coupling, nonlinear solid mechanics, wave propagation phenomena, viscoelastic flows, shallow water flows, aero-acoustics, and radiation. The tools used are those mentioned in the first block. Viscoelastic and compressible flows have been my most active area of research since 2017 in this block.

Key words

finite element methods, stabilization, fractional step schemes, multi-physics problems, AI in computational mechanics

ORCID

0000-0002-7412-778X

Resercher ID

I-2311-2014

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Research interest

His primary research interests are in information security and privacy-enhancing technologies, in particular anonymization and statistical disclosure control. Furthermore, he also works on ethics-by-design cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. His work revolves around technologies to reconcile efficiency, security, privacy, transparency, explainability and other ethical values in the information society. He is the world's top cited researcher in data protection.

He has chaired 22 international conferences. He is a co-editor-in chief of "Transactions on Data Privacy" and an associate editor of several journals. He has co-ordinated the H2020 project "CLARUS", the CONSOLIDER "ARES team on security and privacy, the EU FP5 project "CO-ORTHOGONAL", the "CO-UTILITY" project (Templeton  Foundation), as well as several Spanish funded and U.S. funded research projects. He regularly engages in technology transfer to the IT industry.

Key words

Data security, Data privacy, Cryptography, Official statistics

ORCID

0000-0001-7213-4962

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Research interest

My research is devoted to the development of innovative biomaterials and scaffolds for tissue regeneration. Bioactive and biodegradable materials development and their interactions with biological entities are investigated both from their fundamental aspects and their specific applications for tissue engineering purposes, the aim of which is the repair and the functional restoration of tissues or organs by means of 3D scaffolds, cells and signals. The group has been working in endogenous tissue engineering by understanding the effect of the scaffold’s fabrication methods, the chosen materials, the architecture and the effect of degradation products to modify tissue microenvironment leading to pro regenerative processes.

 

Key words

Biomaterials, 3D printing, stem cells, regenerative medicine, angiogenesis, reprogramming

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4855-8874

Resercher ID

23396344500

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Research interest

I carry out interdisciplinary research coupling Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology. In last years, my focus was on the treatment of polluted water streams such as urban wastewaters, agricultural drainage and aquaculture discharges with microalgae cultures. These microorganisms grow using nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) contained in polluted waters while removing emerging organic contaminants as pharmaceutical drugs. Microalgae biomass produced in these cultures can be a source of bioproducts, so the interest in these systems goes beyond bioremediation itself. Note that this is a very novel approach which aims at contributing to transform bioremediation processes (e.g. wastewater treatment) into a productive industry within the context of circular economy. 

Key words

Environmental engineering, Environmental biotechnology, Wastewater treatment, Nature-Based Solutions, Cyanobacteria

ORCID

0000-0003-1258-8174

Resercher ID

55955646800 (Scopus)

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Research interest

Her research is focused on the development of new biomaterials for tissue engineering and controlled drug release, with special emphasis in the musculoskeletal system. Her main goal is to exploit biomimetic strategies for the design of biomaterials for bone tissue engineering, inspired in the features of both the inorganic and the organic components of bone extracellular matrix. Specifically, her main challenges include: i) the development of biomaterial-based antimicrobial strategies, in view of overcoming the challenge of antibiotic resistance; ii) understanding the role of the different material features in the cellular events leading to osteoinduction and biomaterial-assisted bone regeneration. Furthermore, she explores new strategies of biofabrication, including injectable cements and foams, surface biofunctionalisation with multifunctional peptides and protein fragments and 3D printing of scaffolds for tissue engineering and personalized regenerative medicine.

Key words

Biomaterials for tissue engineering, biofunctional materials, drug delivery, bone regeneration, biomimetic materials, 3D printing of biomaterials, bioprinting, cell-material interactions, preclinical studies of biomaterials

ORCID

0000-0002-4700-5621

Resercher ID

J-8149-2017

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Research interest

The main goal of the Nanoscale Bioelectrical Characterization group is to develop a multiscale approach to Bioelectricity, covering from the nano- to the microscale. To this end the group develop methods and techniques based on Scanning Probe Microscopy, Organic Electronics and Machine Learning. In the next years, the group will focus in the development of Autonomous Electrical Scanning Probe Microscopes for Biomedical applications enhanced by Artificial Intelligence. The new microscope will provide simultaneous nanoscale structural, mechanical and electrical information on single living cells, and will be able to be operated by non-skilled personnel. In the long-term we expect the system to become a significant clinical tool to address pathological processes tightly associated with the electrical and mechanical properties of cells.

Key words

Scanning Probe Microscopy, Autonomous Instruments, Machine Learning, Electrical properties, Mechanical properties, Single cells, Biomedicine, Nanomedicine

ORCID

000-0002-1949-1757

Resercher ID

E-1467-2017

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Research interest

The research we are doing is focused on understanding modern power systems dominated by power electronics converters, including renewables (mainly onshore and offshore wind and solar PV), HVDC, FACTS, energy storage, electrical vehicle and industrial loads. The activities we are developing are related to developing modeling approaches, control design tools and analysis methodologies to be able to analyze in a systematic way power systems dominated by converters. Power converters are programmable devices which cannot be significantly overloaded. This implies that they behave in a different way compared to traditional synchronous generators, and therefore exisitng approaches and tools which are used to analyze power systems have important limitations. Our work combines the detailed converter and the overall system analysis and has application to multiple fields, ranging from high voltage transmission networks to low voltage distribution systems. 

 

Key words

Renewable energy, wind power, offshore wind, power systems, power electronics, electrical machines, supergrids, HVDC grids

ORCID

0000-0002-9507-8278

Resercher ID

I-3557-2014

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Research interest

Antonio’s research has focused on computer architecture, compilers and parallel processing, with special emphasis on microarchitecture and code generation techniques for the design of power efficient and reliable computing systems.

His latest research activities focus on the area of domain-specific architectures, with special emphasis on Cognitive Computing and Graphics domains. Regarding Cognitive Computing architectures, his goal is to devise new “intelligent” devices that will help people in their daily routines at work, home or for entertainment. In particular, he is investigating novel architectures for computer vision, language processing and autonomous driving systems. In the area of Graphics, his work focuses on energy-efficient graphics processors that can provide reach user experiences for animated applications running in extremely power constrained devices such as smartphones or other portable devices.

Key words

computer architecture, processor microarchitecture, power-efficiency, memory architecture, graphics processors, cognitive computing systems.

ORCID

0000-0002-0009-0996

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Research interest

Prof. Hernández-Leo's research activity lies at the intersection of Network and Computer Applications, Human-Computer Interaction and Learning Sciences, being broadly centered on the domain of Learning Technologies, and spanning fields such as learning design technology, computer-supported collaborative learning, community platforms, learning analytics, and architectures and devices for learning. Her main objective is to contribute to improve Information and Communications Technologies to empower teachers and to enable potentially effective learning experiences that are not possible (or very demanding) without technologies. Her research group (TIDE, Interactive and Distributed Technologies for Education, https://www.upf.edu/web/tide) is currently focused on human-centered trustworthy data-driven services in Learning Design tooling, Classroom Orchestration technologies and Distributed Learning Environments. 

Key words

social technologies, standards and interoperability, devices for learning, computer-supported collaborative learning, technologies for learning design

ORCID

0000-0003-0548-7455

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Research interest

My main research interests lie in:

1. Food images analysis is a real CV and ML challenge due to the high ambiguity of food appearance, big inter-class variety (different food presentations of the same dish) and inter-class similarity, huge number of dishes (acc. Wikipedia there are >200.000 basic dishes), as well as lack of well-established food concepts semantics. 8 sci-indexed journals, 18 intern. peer-reviewed conferences,  6 PhD theses, 6 EU and 4 national projects and >40 invited keynote talks.

2. Uncertainty-based medical image segmentation [Pezzano'21,Pezzanob'21,Kushibar'22,etc](1206 cites): PhD thesis, MICCAI paper, 2 Q1 journals, etc.

3. Novel explainibility methods for clinical data [Boscolo'22, Salih'2021](5cites, papers since 2021): 2 journals, 3 int. conferences, 1 thesis (A. Salih). 

 

Key words

Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Deep learning, Medical Imaging, Health applications

ORCID

0000-0003-0047-5172

Resercher ID

I-3385-2015

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Research interest

His research is focused on bioelectrical phenomena and, in particular, on exploring the use of these phenomena for implementing new methods and devices for biomedical applications. Specifically, his main research topics are electroporation, particularly for tissue ablation, electrical bioimpedance for diagnostic purposes and injectable electronics for neuroprosthetics.

 

Key words

biomedical engineering; bioelectrical phenomena; neuroprosthetics; electroporation; electrical bioimpedance

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7718-8767

Resercher ID

A-3155-2008

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Research interest

My main research interests are in the field of Image Processing, Pattern Recognition and Computer Vision, with especial focus on Medical Image Analysis and specifically on the Neuroimaging field, where I’m leading several research projects and participating in transferring the developed technologies. This reseach combines knowledge from computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, with the development of novel computerised tools mainly based on deep learning models. As a result, he created pioneer models that allow to extract precise biomarkers from magnetic resonance and computed tomography images of the brain, helping in the diagnosis, assessment and follow-up of brain diseases. Current research tackles the goal of developing new tools to build predictive models for neurological diseases. This will help on the stratification of patients, the diagnosis and prognosis, and the inclusion of personalised treatments in hospitals.

Key words

Biomedical Engineering, Medical Imaging, Neuroimaging, Computer Science, Computer Vision, Image Processing

ORCID

0000-0003-2777-3479

Resercher ID

L-1141-2014

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Research interest

Growth of crystalline metal oxide nanomaterials employing bottom-up approaches. Specifically, self-catalysed growth of n-type semiconductor nanowires onto ceramic, silicon, MEMS or polymeric substrates. Nanowires are grown and loaded with p-type nanoparticles, achieving functional nanomaterials with heterojunctions at the nanoscale, with superior performance for gas sensing. CVD growth of 2D and 3D assemblies of transition metal dichalcogenides. Gaining insight in the surface chemistry, nature of defects and the specific mechanisms of interaction with target gases, unveiling gas-sensing mechanisms and structure-performance relationships. Functionalisation of carbon nanomaterials, grafting metal nanoparticles, complex molecules, perovskites, metal clusters achieving highly sensitive and selective sensors. Nanomaterial-based flexible gas sensors a with a performance that matches the one of conventional rigid devices. Development of unattended, wireless gas sensing networks.

Key words

gas sensor microsystems; carbon nanomaterials, metal oxide nanowires; transition metal dichalcogenides; nanoporous alumina; hybrid functional nanomaterials, signal processing

ORCID

0000-0001-6164-4342

Resercher ID

I-8519-2012

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Research interest

Prof. Jordi Llorca is working on the development of highly efficient catalysts based on in situ and operando spectroscopy and microscopy methods at the atomic level addressed to unravel the nature of the catalytic active sites. He is involved in the design and manufacture of fuel reformers, catalytic membrane reactors and microreactors for conducting chemical reactions aimed at the generation, purification and separation of hydrogen for fuel cells as well as other processes related to energy and environmental applications, such as the abatement or atmospheric pollutants from combustion engines. Another research line conducted by Prof. Jordi Llorca is the direct production of hydrogen from water and sunlight, which includes the synthesis and study of novel photocatalysts with semiconductors, metal nanoparticles and photonic crystals. He is also interested in cosmochemistry and meteoritics. The International Astronomical Union has named asteroid 2013 WD1 after him.

Key words

Heterogeneous Catalysis, Microreactors, Reaction Engineering, Environment, Operando Characterization

ORCID

0000-0002-7447-9582

Resercher ID

M-8134-2014

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Research interest

In the context of deep learning for perception-based autonomous driving, Antonio is focusing on several topics of high interest:

1. Modular and sensorimotor paradigms for developing AI drivers.
2. Semi-supervised learning and domain adaptation to develop AI drivers in simulation for their posterior deployment in the real world.
3. Anomaly detection, lifelong learning, and active learning for developing adaptable AI drivers. 
4. Intention recognition of vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists).
5. Multimodal perception for developing AI drivers.

Publications can be seen in my Google Scholar.

Key words

Autonomous Driving, Simulation, Multimodal Perception, Domain Adaptation, Deep Learning.

ORCID

0000-0002-6979-5783

Resercher ID

L-5303-2014

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Research interest

My research focus is on wireless communications, precisely on the design and analysis of advanced techniques to increase bit rates, to reduce the consumption of resources (chiefly bandwidth and power), to minimize latency, and to contain complexity in wireless networks. Over the last several years, with the support of an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council, I have been exploring designs for cloud-based 6G wireless networks, to be deployed circa 2030.

Key words

Wireless Communications, Wireless Networks, Information Theory, Signal Processing, Machine Learning

ORCID

0000-0003-3790-0494

Resercher ID

A-3332-2012

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Research interest

His current research interests mainly focus on the engineering of nanophotonic structures based on micro- and nanoporous silicon and nanoporous alumina for photonic biosensing platforms and biomedical and energy applications. He is also interested in the fabrication, characterization and modeling of organic and hybrid nanostructured materials to enhance light-matter interactions and electro-optical properties in photonic and optoelectronic devices such as photovoltaic solar cells, detectors, and sensors

Key words

Nanoporous, Biosensors, Nanophotonics, Nanostructured systems, Biomedicine, Nanotechnology, Organic Solar cells

ORCID

0000-0002-5976-1408

Resercher ID

G-8852-2011

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Research interest

Prof. Masoller's research lines are nonlinear dynamics, complex systems, and data analysis. Specifically, Masoller and her collaborators conduct experimental and numerical research on semiconductor laser dynamics, neural dynamics, and data analysis tools to characterize, forecast and control the behavior of complex systems, including extreme events, rogue waves, and tipping points in climate and biomedical signals. She and her collaborators have discovered remarkable similarities (but also differences) between the behavior of excitable lasers and neurons. Her team also developed new analysis tools to extract information from complex signals in fields as diverse as biomedicine and climate. Her research has focused on identifying early warning signs of critical transitions and extreme events. Masoller and colleagues have used symbolic analysis to differentiate brain states and network tools to analyze retina fundus images for early diagnosis of diseases.

Key words

Photonics, semiconductor lasers, complex systems, nonlinear dynamics, neuronal models, time series analysis, complex networks, extreme events

ORCID

0000-0003-0768-2019

Resercher ID

M-3696-2014

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Research interest

Her interests are wireless communications and her contributions play a seminal advance in the state of the art of signal processing for high speed satellite communications. In 2007, for the first time, she considered the benefits of MIMO processing for satellite communications, both fixed and mobile, either broadcast services or multimedia. She developed the first MIMO satellite channel model and patent on satellite beamforming. Her research is in signal processing for communications, focused on satellite communications. She has more than 60 journal papers and 300 conference papers. She is co-author of 7 books. She has leaded more than 20 projects and holds 8 patents. She is the coordinator of the Networks of Excellence on satellite communications, financed by the European Space Agency: SatnexIV-V. 

Key words

satellite communications, Signal Processing, Communication transceivers, wireless communications, array processing

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4281-3934

Resercher ID

L-4418-2013

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Research interest

My expertise lies in signal/image processing, information integration, and machine learning, with main application to computational anatomy. My research interests are Medical image analysis and machine learning for personalised medicine, which are the main lines on which her research focuses. Her strong theoretical background contributes to solving biomedical engineering problems from rigorous mathematical foundations, making theoretical insights and practical relevance complementary.

Key words

medical image analysis, integration of information, machine learning

ORCID

0000-0001-5236-5819

Resercher ID

D-7979-2014

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Research interest

My research focuses on the study of knowledge and data semantics under an Artificial Intelligence perspective. I work on the development of computational and machine learning methods to understand, manage and transform textual data in analytical algorithms. By means of these methods it is possible to automatize data analyses on (big) textual data and to improve the accuracy of such analyses.

In the last years, I have worked on the application of these semantic methods to the protection of sensitive data, specifically, to anonymize textual data in privacy-challenging scenarios such as document declassification, social media publication or statistical data releases. My contributions resulted in algorithms that preserve the privacy of the subjects while ensuring that the anonymized data are still useful for research. This makes the data protection required by legal frameworks compatible with data analyses that employ personal data.

Key words

Semantics, Data Analysis, Machine learning, Data privacy

ORCID

0000-0001-7275-7887

Resercher ID

B-5275-2012

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Research interest

In the last 12 years my research has been focused in the development of emerging thin film chalcogenide materials for thin film solar cells applications, using physical vapour deposition techniques. Currently my Group is at the forefront at European level in the development of high efficiency solar cells with these new type of fully inorganic materials such as kesterite-related absorbers or semiconductors with low dimensionality inspired by Sb₂(S,Se)₃ system. Research interest covers the following topics: i) Development of advanced strategies for high efficiency kesterite (Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄) solar cells; ii) Absorber synthesis and devices fabrication with new chalcogenide and chalco-halide materials with low dimensionality by physical routes for energy harvesting applications; and iii) Innovative selective contacts enhanced with dipolar molecules for thin film photovoltaics, Iv) advanced photovoltaic applications including flexible and multi-junction solar cells.

Key words

Thin Film Solar Cells, Chalcogenide Photovoltaics, chalcopyrites, kesterites

ORCID

0000-0003-2123-6162

Resercher ID

A-7159-2014

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Research interest

My general research objective for the next years is to develop positioning solutions for two types of applications: i) automated driving and unmanned aerial systems, where accuracy and security are of paramount relevance; ii) Internet-of-Thing systems.

Despite the progress in recent years in satellite and terrestrial based positioning technologies, there is still a very significant gap in the accuracy, latency, reliability, and energetic cost between the existing positioning solutions and the requirements of those applications. My research in both theoretical and the practical implementation aspects aims at narrowing that gap. My work focuses on two of the technologies, namely 5G/6G and GNSS, that will form part of those systems. I am interested in the use of V2X sidelinks for high-accuracy low-latency positioning, simultaneous localization and mapping, and power consumption reduction in IoT devices via cloud-based signal processing.

Key words

navigation/positioning systems, statistical signal processing, estimation theory, wireless communications, data series analysis, GNSS, GPS, 5G, millimeter wave

ORCID

0000-0003-2494-6872

Resercher ID

C-7058-2008

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Research interest

All my research is carried out within the Music Technology Group, where we focus on the understanding of sound and music signals by combining signal processing and machine learning methods with semantic technologies. We work both on data-driven methodologies, in which the development and use of large data collections is a fundamental aspect, and on knowledge-driven approaches, in which domain knowledge of the problem to be addressed is needed. Combining these research approaches, we have been able to tackle practical problems related to music exploration and recommendation, classification of sounds, and automatic assessment for music education. We have been able to combine a very strong open science strategy with successful technology transfer initiatives.

Key words

sound and music computing, audio signal processing, music information retrieval, computational musicology

ORCID

0000-0003-1395-2345

Resercher ID

C-9299-2014

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Research interest

His research interests are smart grids, mostly intelligent distribution grids, and integrating novel loads and renewable energy generation into them. For such research, power system engineering combines novel techniques like machine learning, power electronics, optimisation, and load and generation modelling. This ICREA grant will enable the creation of a new research line devoted to novel grid architectures, planning, and operations. The overall scientific goal of the research project is to design and analyse novel electricity network architectures based on the groundbreaking concept of packetised energy flows. The targeted stakeholders are the electricity industry, off-grid applications and high-reliability stand-alone electricity systems for scientific explorations.

Key words

Renewable generation, Wind Power, Smart Grid, Microgrid, Digital Energy

ORCID

0000-0002-5628-1660

Resercher ID

F-1412-2015

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Research interest

Understanding the mechanical behavior of high performance composites and bonded joints, for contributing to  the development of non-deterministic modelling approaches to reduce recurring and non-recurring costs on the design and certification of advanced composite structures. Current activities deal with (i) the experimental characterization and development of analysis models at very low cryogenic temperatures (down to 20K) with application to LH2 tank application, for zero emision aviation transportation, and other applications such as  superconductors; and (ii) to integrate the tools and knowledge developed into a methodology to promote a change of paradigm in the development of new structural elements, reducing the time to market and increasing the freedom to introduce new design concepts contributing to reduce fuel emisions in the transport industry and an efficient use of materials.

 

 

Key words

Composites, bonded joints, experimental characterisation, constitutive modelling, uncertainty quantification and management

ORCID

0000-0002-2554-2653

Resercher ID

C-6875-2008

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Research interest

My research interests are to implement new bio-based or biomimetic technologies in high added value products, meeting the research with the industry and the market. The “bio” component is an integral part of my research – bio-tools (enzymes), bio-processes and bio-materials are used to design functional coatings and surfaces, cosmetic formulations, nano/micro drug delivery systems, medical and diagnostic devices, antimicrobial/antibiofilm strategies, bioactive and nano-enabled composite materials. I pretend to provide biotech alternatives for material development and improvement of manufacturing processes in terms of efficiency, environmental impact, energy consumption, and product performance working at the interface of biotechnology, materials science, life sciences, chemistry and polymer engineering.

Key words

applied biotechnology, nano-technology, materials science, (bio)polymers, medical devices, diagnostics

ORCID

0000-0002-8568-1110

Resercher ID

F-1140-2016

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Research interest

My research was initially focused on multilayer optical networks, specifically on Network planning and re-optimization. I extended the focus of my research since a critical barrier to the growth of the Internet and the development of new innovative services is also the cloud and network orchestration to cope with the increasing complexity of technologies and services. Furthermore, the application of AI/ML solutions on telemetry data facilitates the exploitation of Software Defined Networking programmability and flexibility, while supporting self-configuration and self-healing from the device to the network to deal with variable workload and degradation. As a result, the focus of my research during the last 5 years has been on the application of AI/ML to the autonomous network operation. I continuously collaborate with Telefónica on Smart Data Networks with Infinera on autonomous networking, as well as with research centers and universities worldwide.

Key words

Toward 6G networking, Intent-Based Networking, Network Automation

ORCID

orcid.org/0000-0002-7345-296X

Resercher ID

L-2335-2014

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Research interest

My research interests include:

• Novel sensing opportunities exploiting radios and electromagnetic signals
• Novel communication approaches exploiting sensing capabilities
• Constrained applications in terms of energy and communications capabilities
• Applications addressing extreme scenarios (environmental conditions, hard real time operation, etc..) 
• Going beyond wireless communications limits with existing radios
• Standardization of wireless communications
• Methods to delay hardware obsolescence

Key words

Industrial wireless, Cyber Physiscal Systems, Sensors, Radios, Deterministic networks, Industrial IoT

ORCID

0000-0002-3020-427X

Resercher ID

I-6637-2015

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Research interest

My primary research interests and experience stem from Industrial Ecology, a field that aims to reconfigure industrial activity in response to knowledge of environmental consequences. One of the impact areas I have concentrated my efforts is the evaluation and design of urban systems, exploring how nature-based solutions such as green infrastructures can be effective in contributing to making cities more resilient to climate change and more sustainable in terms of water management, food production, air quality, human well-being and biodiversity. To this end, I was recently awarded an ERC Consolidator grant entitled Integrated System Analysis of Urban Vegetation and Agriculture (URBAG, 2019-2024) to develop a novel and comprehensive analysis that integrates the life cycle impacts of the resources required for green infrastructures with the understanding of how green infrastructures impact the urban atmosphere interaction. 

Key words

urban atmospheric modeling, urban metabolism, green infrastructures, nature based solutions, urban and peri-urban agriculture, life cycle assessment, urban planning, air quality, GHG emissions.

ORCID

0000-0001-6392-0902

Resercher ID

B-1379-2009

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Research interest

My scientific activity is mainly focused in dietary and nutritional assessment as the major determinants of human health. This activity has comprised the understanding of qualitative and quantitative links between dietary patterns, nutritional phenotype and risk factors for diet-related chronic diseases. The main goals of my research have been: i) Applying intensively LC-MS driven untargeted and targeted metabolomics analysis to understand how new dietary biomarkers identified modulate diet-disease risk associations using pathway and network approaches; ii) The identification of robust “metabolic signatures of eating habits” for a range of foods of high public health significance; iii) To define and develop new methodological strategies for the biomarker discovery; iv) The development of an in-house human metabolome database and bioinformatic and biostatistics tools for the interpretation and identification of new biomarkers.

Key words

Nutrition, Biomarkers, Metabolomic, Dietary Assessment, Dietary Exposure, Dietary Pattern, Metabotype, Phytochemicals, Microbiome & health, Personalized Nutrition, Healthy Aging

ORCID

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8494-4978

Resercher ID

J-3377-2012

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Research interest

Cañestro's group studies the origin and evolution of our phylum, the chordates, in the field EcoEvoDevo. It stands out his studies on the origin of the vertebrate brain, the tunicate disintegration of the Hox cluster, and the development of zebrafish models for Fanconi Anemia tumors. His publications include top journals, such as Science, Nature, Nature Review Genetics, from which the article “Evolution by gene loss” has become a cardinal review. His recent discovery of how massive losses of cardiac genes 500 million years ago impacted the evolution of the lifestyle of our marine ancestors has been published in the cover of Nature. Currently, Cañestro's lab pioneers the use of Oikopleura dioica as a model to study the impact of gene loss as an evolutionary driving force, the study of the heart of Oikopleura as a new model for human cardiomyopathies, and the study of the impact of biotoxins and marine noise contamination on embryo development in the context of Ocean health.

Key words

Evolutionary and Developmental Biology and Genomics; Chordate Evolution; Gene Loss; Heart Development; Ocean Health

ORCID

0000-0003-4623-8105

Resercher ID

L-9661-2014

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Research interest

The Cell Signaling group is the synergy of two teams led by two principal investigators who came together to work in close collaboration and become more competitive. This consortium shares a common interest in the characterization of stress responses in eukaryotic cells, using yeast and mammalian cells as model organisms. We have focused our studies on the properties of the signaling process mediated by the p38/Hog1 stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs), the characterization of biological targets, and the study of the cellular responses necessary for adaptation to stress, such as cell cycle regulation and gene expression. Eulàlia de Nadal has specifically focused on the regulation of transcription in response to stress as well in the characterization of the biological targets for SAPK action.

Key words

Cellular stress, Gene expression, Chromatin, SAPKs, Signal transduction, Cell cycle progression

ORCID

0000-0003-0039-5607

Resercher ID

J-8178-2014

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Research interest

In the last 5 years, our Research interests have been focused on the microbiota, and particularly its interactions with metabolic disorders and cognition: several signatures of the microbiome were associated with fatty liver (2 articles Nature Medicine in 2018 and 1 in Microbiome, 2021) and short-term memory and food addition in subjects with obesity (Cell Metab. 2020, J Clin Invest 2022). We have also shown the impact of dietary proline on the development of depressive traits in subjects with obesity through changes in the gut microbiome (Cell Metab 2022), and the first observations linking bacteriopahges of the gut microbiome to cognition (Cell Host & Microbe, 2022). A recent invited review summarized the interaction among iron, the gut microbiota and glucose metabolism (Nature Reviews Endocrinol 2022). Funding from international (EU H2020, Guts UK, Diabetes UK  and Interreg-POCTEFA and national (Ministry of Health)) competitive calls, with more than 5 M€.

Key words

obesity, type 2 diabetes, cognition, gut microbiome, chronic inflammation, iron

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7442-9323

Resercher ID

Fernandez-Real JM

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Research interest

We focus on movement and spatial ecology, symbiotic interactions and marine environmental chemistry, using seabirds as a main study model. We are concerned with biodiversity loss and all our research intends to contribute to the field of conservation biology. We develop observational and experimental field studies integrating multidisciplinary approaches and tools, such as molecular, stable isotope, physiological, microbiological and contamination analyses. We instrument seabirds with different devices, such as GPS, GLS and accelerometers, to track their foraging and migratory movements and behaviour. We work in Macaronesic archipelagos, particularly Cape Verde, Canary and Balearic Is, as well as in some Antarctic and subantarctic localities. Our tracking data contribute to assess mIBAs and MPAs in the Atlantic. Our activities also include building capacity in developing countries as well as increasing public awareness on anthropogenic threats to seabirds and the marine environment.

Key words

movement ecology, symbiotic interactions, marine environmental chemistry, conservation biology, seabird ecology

ORCID

0000-0002-8691-9397

Resercher ID

C-3942-2008

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Research interest

Oxidative stress constitutes the basis of physio-pathological situations such as neurodegenerative diseases and aging.  However, reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) also exert signaling roles: they may activate antioxidant cascades, and endogenous increases of these species may even improve the overall fitness of the cell and trigger lifespan.  Our lab uses Schizosaccharomyces pombe to study the toxicity associated to oxygen-derived species, specifically protein oxidation and aggregation, and to describe the signaling processes controlled by oxidants.  Understanding the connections between mitochondrial metabolism, H₂O₂ production and lifespan is one of our long-term goals.  The beauty of working with a unicellular eukaryote is that unexpected cross-talks between cellular processes (oxidative stress and autophagy, splicing and meiosis, traffic and inhibition of cell polarity…) can be investigated within a sensible time frame. 

Key words

oxidative stress, signal transduction, h2o2, MAP kinase, transcription, protein quality control, aging

ORCID

0000-0002-3768-6785

Resercher ID

K-2919-2014

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Research interest

The overarching goal of his research is to study the contribution of inflammation to neural degeneration after spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In particular, his research is focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms that mediate the detrimental aspects of macrophage and microglia activation, as well as, on understanding the mechanisms that hampers the resolution of inflammation in neurological disorders.  His aim hypothesis is that neurological conditions share specific harmful inflammatory pathways and thus, modulation of such pathways  may lead to a new avenue for the development of novel and more efficient therapeutic treatments. His research is therefore in the interface between restorative neuroscience and immunology.

Key words

Spinal Cord Injury, Inflammation, Neuroprotection, Multiple Sclerosis, Cytokines

ORCID

0000-0001-7615-9550

Resercher ID

E-2150-2011

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Research interest

Cristina's group (https://www.upf.edu/web/genimmune) is interested in the connection between inflammation and disease, studying how pro- and anti-inflammatory immune responses are balanced to benefit the body, and how this balance between both responses determines, for example, the control of pathogens, tumor progression, and transplant rejection. Her group addresses these questions by focusing on the communication between different immune cell types and identifying mechanisms that regulate gene expression and chromatin configuration as checkpoints of the inflammatory response.

Key words

Immune responses, cell communication, gene expression, mouse models of disease

ORCID

0000-0002-2311-2406

Resercher ID

G-4482-2014

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Research interest

My interests focus on bacteriophages (phages). Firstly, their role as mobile genetic elements, studying Shiga toxin phages, carrying the toxin of enterohemorrhagic E. coli. Later, studying phages encoding antibiotic resistance genes, reporting their abundance in different biomes (water, food and the human body).

Studies of phages infecting enteric bacteria as fecal indicators resulted in the development of the Bluephage method for the colorimetric detection of coliphages. For years I studied phages infecting Bacteroides as indicators. Recently, we focus on CrAssphage, a rare phage infecting Bacteroides that we detected in our environament and that, for the first time, we have isolated in Catalonia waters.

New projects study the use of phages as biocontrol agents against plant pathogens and have isolated and apply a unique phage that infect nitrifying bacteria, allowing a more efficient and sustainable fertilization process.

Key words

Bacteriophages, microbiota, antibiotic resistance, fecal pollution, microbial indicators, phage therapy

ORCID

0000-0001-5549-1394

Resercher ID

K-4577-2014

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Research interest

My research has focused on the study of antioxidants, senescence and stress in plants, considering aspects related to the ecophysiology of plants and agrifood biotechnological applications. The research team is currently in a very active phase and has significantly advanced in our understanding of (i) the biosynthesis and role of vitamin E in plants, (ii) plant senescence, and (iii) the biology of invasive plants, among other findings. Important achievements have also been performed in the field of plant physiology applied to non-medical biotechnology, in particular reducing apple sunburn or increasing flower longevity, both as a result of transfer projects with agrifood biotechnological companies. As a result, several of the studies performed in our laboratory have received particular attention in the mass media. 

Key words

antioxidants, redox regulation, senescence, stress responses

ORCID

0000-0001-6523-6848

Resercher ID

N-3302-2014

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Research interest

Our goal is to understand how spatiotemporally coordinated cell progenitor specification and differentiation occur during morphogenesis to construct a functional brain. While incorporating time as a missing-yet-crucial factor, we want to provide a global view of how cell fate decisions are taken in the brain and gain biological insights into: i) how tissue growth is intertwined with cell proliferation and differentiation; ii) how the heterogeneity of neural progenitors is generated; and iii) how progenitor pools contribute to the functional circuits.

We use the zebrafish embryo as a model system, which allows us to combine cutting-edge complementary approaches such as CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing, high-resolution 4D-imaging paired with cell tracking tools, and analyses of gene regulatory landscapes. We would like to map the ontogeny of differentiated neurons and to reveal the sequence of temporal transitions from progenitor to the differentiated state.

Key words

developmental biology, neurobiology, segmentation, compartments, cell lineage, morphogenesis, progenitor cells, neurogenesis, cell specification, 4D-imaging, neuronal differentiation

ORCID

0000-0001-6423-7451

Resercher ID

F-7908-2014

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Research interest

My lab is devoted to understand the role of mitochondrial function in neuronal survival at the molecular, cellular and physiological level.

In particular, the main goal of my research has been to understand neuronal susceptibility to mitochondrial disease, a group of incurable and often fatal pathologies affecting 1:5000 children. My lab seeks a multi-level approach, by both generating and implementing a wide array of technologies, combining molecular, genetic, behavioral and connectomic tools. 

The overarching goal of my research is to reveal novel pathways and mechanisms in neuronal function and pathology and open new and unexplored lines of research and therapeutic targets to treat mitochondrial disease encephalopathy, sitting at the interphase between  neuroscience and immunology basic research with a clear translational-oriented focus.

 

Key words

neuropathology, mitochondrial disease, animal models, genetic profiling, cell type-specific analysis, connectomics

ORCID

0000-0003-1674-7160

Resercher ID

N-5544-2015

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Research interest

Our research group is interested in the molecular mechanisms behind protein structures. Through protein crystallography and electronic cryo-microscopy (cryoEM) we solve protein structures at the atomic level, including multiprotein complexes and protein-DNA complexes.   Our main research interest is focused the post-translational modification pathway of proteins by ubiquitin or SUMO, which plays a very important role in the regulation of many cellular processes and is involved in the development of many pathologies.

Our research lines in the medium-long term period include the functional and structural characterization of protein complexes of the ubiquitin/SUMO pathway, such as the SUMO E3 ligase activity of the Nse2 subunit of the Smc5/6 complex, which is involved in the DNA micro-compaction and can act as a giant SUMO E3 ligase involved in DNA damage repair pathways. 

Key words

Biomedicine, biochemistry, structural biology, protein crystallography

ORCID

0000-0002-5347-0992

Resercher ID

H-5360-2015

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Research interest

Dr. Salas' research has focused on clinical trials in humans to evaluate the effect of food, dietary compounds and dietary patterns on obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases. Since 2005, he is one of the leaders of the PREDIMED Study (n=7447 participants), and is currently Coordinator and Chairman of the Steering Committee of the PREDIMED-Plus study (n=6874 participants), two large clinical trials for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and mortality. PREDIMED-Plus is a multi-collaborative project involving 30 research groups, and had received National, European, USA and Canadian grants. With all these projects and collaborations, he has also developed skills in precision medicine using different OMIC´s methodologies, especially metabolomics and metagenomics, which we are now implementing  in epidemiologic and clinical studies.

Key words

Nutrition, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, Mediterranean diet, inflammation, cardiovascular disease

ORCID

0000-0003-2700-7459

Resercher ID

C-7229-2017

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Research interest

Prof. Surrallés leads an internationally competitive group in the field of cancer-prone DNA repair syndromes with a focus in Fanconi anemia and familiar breast cancer. In the last 8 years he was involved in the discovery of 8 new disease genes involved in 6 cancer syndromes. He also performs advance therapeutic research in the field of DNA damage response including gene and cell therapy and drug and genetic screenings to obtain 2 Orphan Drug Designations by EMA, file 5 patents to protect therapeutic innovations in the field of DNA repair and participate in several clinical trials. A long term goal of Surrallés’ team is to understand the mechanisms that maintain genome stability and protect us from disease, cancer, and ageing and to translate this knowledge to develop novel therapeutic and diagnostic strategies in the fields of oncology, precision medicine and rare diseases.

Key words

Clinical genetics, genomic medicine, rare diseases, familiar cáncer, Fanconi anemia, BRCA, bone marrow failure, DNA repair, drug discovery

ORCID

0000-0002-4041-7519

Resercher ID

7004387113

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Research interest

Prof. Torres leads one the IDIBAPS research groups and a group of CIBERES-ISCIII. His research is focussed on respiratory infections, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and mechanical ventilation. In these fields his group is doing translational research from an animal piglet model to microbiology laboratory and to patients. this research has a clinical part to carry out observational studies and clinical trials, an animal laboratory to carry out studies on pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in animal models of pigs mechanically ventilated for more than 4 days. It has its own microbiology laboratory where all the microbiology tests for clinical and animal studies are carried out.

Many of the findings of the group have been incorporated to clinical practice and are included in the current guidelines as follows: Physiopathology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of community-acquired pneumonia and hospital-acquired pneumonia are the main contributions.

Key words

lung infections, community acquired pneumonia, ventilator associated pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchiectasis, animal model

ORCID

0000-0002-8643-2167

Resercher ID

H-6128-2017

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Research interest

Our lab takes a multidisciplinary approach to studying protein misfolding, and aggregation, with a special focus on their molecular and structural aspects. In addition to defining the principles that govern these processes, we pursue to understand how their deregulation leads to the onset of human diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders. To this aim we integrate state-of-the-art techniques in computational biology, structural biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics. By leveraging our knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of protein misfolding and aggregation, we strive to develop innovative therapeutics to target these pathologies. Our expertise in this area also allows us to design and produce novel self-assembled materials for nanotechnology applications, including biosensors, biocatalysts, multivalent binders and vaccine platforms. 

Ultimately, our goal is to contribute to the development of innovative technologies and molecules that improve human health.

Key words

Protein misfolding, Protein Aggregation, Amyloid, Protein Design, Protein Self-Assembly, Prions, Conformational Disorders

ORCID

orcid.org/0000-0002-9652-6351

Resercher ID

C-7021-2008

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Research interest

.Disturbances in energy balance lead to obesity and associated metabolic pathologies (e.g. diabetes or cardiovascular disease).These alterations involve disturbances in the capacity of the body to activate metabolic energy expenditure. My research activity is focused to the study of the molecular and cellular processes that control metabolic energy balance, the activity of brown fat (the main site of energy expenditure in mammals), and brown-versus-white adipose tissue plasticity. Recently, we paid particular attention to the secretory role of brown fat and the discovery of brown adipokines or “batokines”. “Batokines” are obvious candidates as biomarkers of metabolic disease as well as for the design of novel therapies, and therefore I am developing an intense translational research to determine their role in patients with obesity, diabetes, lipodystrophy and other complex metabolic diseases

Key words

metabolism, endocrinology, adipose, mitochondria, transcription

ORCID

0000-0003-1266-9142

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Research interest

His research focuses Reproductive Biology in mammals (encompassing humans and animal models): sperm physiology, interactions of sperm with epithelial cells from different reproductive tissues (epididymis and oviduct), presence and growth of microbes in semen, cryopreservation of gametes and embryos, genetics of infertility, oocyte activation defiency, in vitro maturation of oocytes and fertility preservation.

His track-record includes more than 380 publications: >230 papers and >130 abstracts in SCI/JCR-indexed journals, mostly Q1-ranked. In addition, he has authored 17 book chapters and >250 contributions to congresses, and is a patent inventor. He has taken part in more than 100 research grants and contracts with companies (national and international), including funding from the European Commission (FP7 and H2020 schemes), retaining the PI role in >40. Thus far, Marc has supervised 13 PhD students, eight post-docs, 26 MSc students and >50 undergraduate students.

Key words

Sperm; Oocyte; Embryo; Cryobiology; Reproductive Biology; Assisted Reproductive Technology; Human Reproduction; Animal Reproduction; Infertility

ORCID

0000-0002-2209-340X

Resercher ID

G-5945-2012

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Research interest

A major objective of my laboratory is to understand the biology mitochondrial dynamics proteins, the mitophagy pathways, and the relative role of these mitochondrial components in the triggering of inflammation. We are also interested in the manipulation of these pathways for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and type 2 diabetes (T2D).  The specific objectives are described below.

A) Analysis of the proteins involved in the transfer of phosphatidylserine (PS) from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to mitochondria, and precise role of Mitofusin 2.

B) Functional role of the autophagy protein TP53INP2 on energy metabolism and mechanisms involved.

C) Identification of mitochondrial pathways triggering inflammation in muscle cells, and the connection between mitochondrial morphology and inflammation.

Key words

mitochondria, mitochondrial dynamics, mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum contact sites, autophagy, diabetes, obesity

ORCID

0000-0002-1638-0306

Resercher ID

R-5479-2018