I completed my undergraduate training in Biotechnology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain. I later joined Prof Fàtima Bosch lab in UAB, where I worked the characterisation of transgenic models of diabetic retinopathy and the development of gene therapy strategies. Then, I moved to UCL-Institute of Ophthalmology (London, UK) as a Marie Curie IEF postdoctoral fellow, where I joined Prof James Bainbridge’s group.  There, I investigated the role of HIF factors in myeloid cells in ischemic retinopathy. In 2017 I joined Graupera’s group as a Juan de la Cierva Fellow to research the impact of PI3K in pericytes in physiology and disease. 

pvillacampa@carrerasresearch.org

I gained my undergraduate BSc degree in Biology at Universidad de Navarra (Spain). I undertook my PhD in cancer genetics at the CNIO in Madrid and PEBC-IDIBELL in Barcelona, in the lab of Dr. Montse Sanchez-Cespedes, studying the role of new oncogenes in lung cancer. Following my PhD, I joined the lab of Prof. Bart Vanhaesebroeck in London (UK) awarded with a long-term EMBO fellowship, at the Barts Cancer Institute-Queen Mary University of London and the Cancer Institute-University College London. There, I discovered new genetic events leading to vascular anomalies. In 2017, I joined the lab of Dr. Mariona Graupera with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship, where I investigate the biology of vascular anomalies. 

scastillo@carrerasresearch.org

I started my research career as BSc student in Dr. Marisol Soengas´s lab at the CNIO (Madrid, Spain). There, I took part in a very exciting research project, led by Dr. David Olmeda, studying how lymphoangiogenesis contributes to melanoma metastasis. Later, I joined Dr. Mariona Graupera´s lab at the IDIBELL (Barcelona, Spain) for the MSc and for the PhD, aiming to understand the function of the PI3K signaling in angiogenesis. During my PhD, I also visited the laboratory of the Prof. Markus Affolter and Dr. Heinz Georg Belting with an EMBO Short-Term Fellowship to image vessel formation using transgenic zebrafish embryos. In 2017, I joined the group of Dr. Stephan Huveneers at the AMC in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) where I have studied how force-dependent membrane deformation at cell-cell junctions can contribute to the coordinated physiological process of sprouting angiogenesis.

Since 2020 I joined the Graupera’s group to study the pathogenesis of PIK3CA-mutant vascular malformations developing novel mouse models.

aangulo@carrerasresearch.org​

I completed my undergraduate training in Biotechnology at Universitat de Barcelona (UB). During this period, I was granted a five-month research training placement at Egbert Oosterwijk laboratory in Radboud University Medical Center (RadboudUMC) in Nijmegen, The Neetherlands, as part of an Erasmus programme scholarship. Then I did a MSc in Translational Biomedical Research in Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Barcelona, and I joined Graupera’s laboratory. Currently, as a PhD student, I am working on the characterization of PI3K driven vascular malformations.

hsabata@carrerasresearch.org​

I obtained a BSc in Biology with special mention in Molecular biology at 2017 and an MSc in Biomedicine with special mention in Oncology at 2018; both performed from the Universidad de Barcelona (UB), Spain. I completed my degree thesis at Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) studying the histology and cellular composition of lung cancer. I continued with this branch of research during my master thesis at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) but, this time, focusing the research on the epigenetic and molecular biology of LC. Finishing the master, I achieved the grant IDIBELL Summer Training Program to continue with the project for three months.

Currently, I’m a PhD student in the Vascular Signalling group led by Dra. Mariona Graupera, although my project is codirected by Dr. Arkaitz Carracedo from CIC bioGUNE in Bilbao, Spain. My research is based on the prostate cancer microenvironment, specially focusing on pericytes and blood vessels at different levels of tumour progression.

amartinezr@carrerasresearch.org​

I completed my medicine degree in 2012 in Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and after I applied for a specialization post which I obtained in Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge (HUB) in 2013. During the next 5 years I finished 2 years of a biostatistics master in UAB and I completed my specialization in Internal Medicine in 2018. After working as an Emergency Department doctor for 6 months, I had the opportunity to work in Hemorrhagic Hereditary Telangiectasia (HHT) Unit in HUB which is coordinated by Dr. Riera-Mestre. It is a multidisciplinary unit that keeps a tight relation with basic research. Under the research FIS grant he received in 2017 (PI17/00669) to study new mutations identified sequencing the whole exome from Hemorrhagic Hereditary Telangiectasia (HHT) patients, and thanks to a post specialization grant from research committee in HUB for 2 years we received in 2019, nowadays I am developing a PhD related to HHT.  It is a project based on translational medicine that begins in the HHT Unit patients to return them back the knowledge we get in the laboratory. For this reason, I split my time in clinical assistance in the hospital and basic research in Dr. Graupera laboratory. Both researchers are my thesis directors.

pcerda@idibell.cat
pcerda@carrerasresearch.org

I completed my bachelor degree in Genetics and Biotechnology, where I did an internship in the Molecular Microbiology lab at Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), in Porto (Portugal). I have done my master’s in Molecular Medicine and Oncology at the Faculty of Medicine of Porto’s University. For my master thesis, I developed a project in the field of Developmental Biology at Dr. Cláudio Franco ‘s lab, the vascular morphogenesis lab, in Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM), Lisbon (Portugal).  The main aim of this project was to understand how blood vessels develop in the lungs, particularly after birth. I stayed in the Cláudio’s lab for 2 more years and during that period I finished my master thesis project and continued working in trying to understand how filopodia formation is regulated in endothelial cells. In September of 2021, I joined Mariona Graupera’s lab as a PhD student, funded by EVOMET, an ITN Marie Skłodowska-Curie Programme. My PhD project is done in collaboration with Roger Gomis (a group leader in IRB, Barcelona) and we are interested in understanding how endothelial cells can modulate breast cancer latency in the bones. Besides doing science, I love to be surrounded by people, good weather and to see the sea.

mfidalgo@carrerasresearch.org ​

I am a first-year Ph.D. student and a fellow of the PIPgen ITN. In the lab, I study the effect of mutations in PI3Ka on vascular diseases. In 2015, I graduated from high school and went to study English for two months in Boston. Afterwards, my scientific carrier started when I decided to study Biochemistry & biotechnology at the University of Antwerp, specializing in cellular biology and physiology. In my first year of Master’s, I studied in Stockholm University, focusing on the properties of proteins. In my second year of Master’s, I got the opportunity to join two different labs, where I got to develop my lab skills; first, I studied a GPCR through mass spectrometry (PPES lab, Prof. Stuart Maudsley), and then I investigated the involvement of a chromatin remodeler in ferroptotic cell death (PPES lab, Prof. Wim Vanden Berghe).

lmaes@carrerasresearch.org ​

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Bologna and then I enrolled in the Molecular Biology and Genetics master course at the University of Pavia. During the two years Master I had the opportunity to work in the Professor Maga’s laboratory at the National Research Council of Pavia (Italy). Here, I worked in depth with the DDX3X helicase, which is involved in viral replications, tumorigenesis and also in the newly discovered mental syndrome, the “DDX3X syndrome”. This period in the Maga’s lab strengthened my interest in the translational research field, so after my Master graduation I was granted with an Erasmus+ Traineeship fellow at Gauthier’s lab in CABIMER, Seville. Here, I investigated the LRH-1 role in the Langerhans’ Islets morphogenesis.

In January 2022 I joined the Graupera’s lab as a PhD student , funded by PIPgen, an ITN Marie Sklodowska-Curie Programme. I am under the supervision of Sandra Castillo and my project is focused on understanding the paediatric PI3K-related vascular malformation and cancer.

enola@carrerasresearch.org ​

In 2019 I obtained my bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at ‘Universidad Autónoma de Madrid’ (UAM). During this period I did a research training which consisted on the identification of new therapeutical targets for the development of treatments with neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory and neurogenic effects at IIBM (‘Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Alberto Sols’). Later, I completed my final degree thesis in CBMSO (‘Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa’) where I focused on the study of the zebrafish central nervous system morphogenesis. During the thesis I shared authorship of a poster presented at the EMBO Workshop 2019 in which we characterized Yap/Taz-Tead activity as an important mechano-transducer of the vertebrate retinal pigmented epithelium morphogenesis.

In 2021 I moved to Barcelona where I did my Master’s degree in Biomedicine (Basic and Translational Research in Cancer specialization) at the ‘Universitat de Barcelona’ (UB). During that time I joined Graupera’s Lab to do my final master thesis. Currently I continue in the lab as a PhD student. I am trying to understand the mechanisms behind the development of vascular malformations, in particular arteriovenous malformations, in PTEN Hamartoma Tumour Syndrome (PHTS) patients’.  

xperosanz@carrerasresearch.org ​

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), in Tarragona. During this period, I was able to learn about clinical and translational research at the URB in Reus, studying the relationship between metabolism, oxidation and inflammation in obesity and liver diseases. In 2020 I did a Master’s degree in Biomedical Research and I joined the Multidisciplinary Group of Translational Oncology (GMOT), where I had the opportunity to study and learn about energetic metabolism and mitochondrial function in colorectal cancer.

In 2021 I joined the lab of Dr. Mariona Graupera as a PhD student. My current work is focused on the adipose tissue vasculature, specifically studying the role of endothelial cells in the regulation of adipose tissue in a context of obesity.

mmunar@carrerasresearch.org​

My passion for science led me to enroll in 2017 for the Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology at the University of Lleida (UdL). In that period I had the opportunity to carry out an internship during my Erasmus stay under the tutelage of Dr. Anabela Martins at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), where I participated in carrying out a trial in which it was tested the differences in growth of different species of macrofungi in different culture media in vitro in order to select the optimal one. After finishing the Bachelor’s degree, I continued my academic training by completing the Master’s degree in Biotechnology at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) in 2021, during which I did the Master’s thesis in the laboratory of Dr. Marta Martín and Dr. Rafael Rivilla in the group of rhizosphere research. The master’s thesis consisted in the analysis of a gene from the plant growth promoting strain Pseudomonas ogarae F113. At the end of the Master’s degree, it was clear to me that I wanted to pursue a doctorate, and for this reason I recently joined the laboratory of Dr. Mariona Graupera, where I will study features of vascular malformations caused by mutations in PI3KCA.

jdengra@carrerasresearch.org ​

I received my PhD in Immunology at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 2009. During my PhD in the lab of Dra Dolores Jaraquemada at the Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina “Vicent Villar Palasí” (IBB, UAB) I studied the peptides presented by HLA-DR in autoimmune human Thyroids. In 2010 I joined Dra. Angels Sierra lab at IDIBELL where I focused my postdoctoral research on the design of a microarray prototype to detect brain metastasis biomarkers. After two years I decided to take a break and I went to Guinea Bissau to work as a volunteer for an ONG. Then I got back to IDIBELL to work as a research technician at Angels Sierra’s and then at Cristina Costa’s lab until December 2016, when I joined Dra. Graupera’s lab to work as project Manager of an H2020 MSCA-ITN. Currently I’m combining my work as lab manager with the managing of an MSCA-H2020 ITN.

lmuixi@carrerasresearch.org

I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Biology at Universidad Complutense de Madrid where I started my research career in the immunology field thought a research internship. Later, I obtained my master’s degree in Biomedicine at Universidad de Valladolid- Instituto de Biología y Genética Molecular (IBGM). There, I gave my first steps into cardiovascular diseases working how the immunology system impacted into aortic stenosis. Following in this cardiovascular field, I joined Dr. Rodríguez group at Institut de Recerca (IR) de Sant Pau de Barcelona where I could undertake my PhD working in the physiopathological role of the cardiovascular remodelling in the abdominal aortic aneurysm and cardiac hypertrophic, characterizing the epigenetic role in these pathologies. Following my PhD, I stayed at this same laboratory three years more and kept on with the search from new therapeutics targets and biomarkers in the abdominal aortic aneurysm. During those years, I consolidated a strong background in animal experimentation, in the manage the mice colony and valuables skills in microsurgical and different mice cardiovascular models.

In 2021, I joined Graupera’s group as a Mouse colony manager and a support researcher.

svarona@carrerasresearch.org

I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Biomedicine in 2016 at Barcelona University (UB). As an ungraduated student I did my practical training in the Advanced Chemistry Institute of Catalonia from the Superior Council of Scientific Investigations (IQAC-CSIC), whit Dr. Mª Teresa García. After that I got a fellowship to participate in the IDIBELL Summer Training Program, when I joined for the first time Graupera’s Lab. Later, I had the opportunity to work in the Advanced Therapies Divison of the Blood and Tissue Bank of Catalonia (BST), where I studied the lymphocytical immunomodulation upon mesenquimal cells and their ability to become reprogrammed into a bone-like phenotype. In 2017 I received my master’s degree in Translational Biomedical Research from Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and I re-joined Graupera’s Lab to do my final master thesis studying the metabolic impact of deleting PTEN in endothelial cells.

Currently, I am focused on the study of the role of PI3K in tumour angiogenesis and the effects of promoting this process.

jllena@carrerasresearch.org

Novartis

Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)

Novartis, Rheumatology.

Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM), Vascular Morphogenesis 

Farmàcia Helena Serra Busquet, Barcelona.