Our work is focused on global regulation of gene expression and on plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer, two processes that play a key role in the adaptation of bacteria to specific niches of their eukaryotic hosts. We work with Streptococcus pneumoniae and Enterococcus faecalis, two human commensal bacteria that can become pathogenic under certain circumstances (opportunistic bacteria). Both Gram-positive bacteria can cause serious infections in individuals with a weak immune system and are a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections.

Our group comes from the preceding research team of Molecular Parasitology, which is now involved into a common research line under the name VACCINE AND MOLECULAR PARASITOLOGY. The Group was created in 2011. The group is working on the production of animal and human vaccines. The laboratory has developed a vaccine against Leishmania protozoan infection in dogs (NEOLEISH-TM) and is now developing a new vaccine against the human disease. Since 2020, the group is also developing a vaccine against the infection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The increase in resistance of pathogenic bacteria to traditional antibiotics may lead in the near future to a post-antibiotic scenario in which the incidence of infectious diseases in society will lead to an increase in patient hospitalisation time, with a clear economic impact and, more seriously, to a higher mortality rate that some studies predict will even be comparable to that caused by cancer.

Mature dendritic cells (mDCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells whose activity is essential for the initiation and resolution of inflammatory processes and the generation of antigen-specific immune responses (see references in the objectives section). The mDCs express chemotactic receptors CCR7 (ligands CCL19 and CCL21), which guide these cells to the lymph nodes where, as part of the onset of adaptive response, these cells will form an immunological synapse (IS), regions of contact between an mDC and a T cell (TC).

Macrophages and dendritic cells are professional antigen-presenting cells whose activity is essential for the initiation and resolution of inflammatory processes and for the generation of antigen-specific immune responses. Besides, macrophages are the fical effector cells of adaptive immunity, thus contributing to the elimination of infectious agents and to the maintenance of tissue integrity and homeostasis.

Are there link between human syndromes with physical and mental problems, a tumor growing out of control and the incapability to contribute to next generation? This question can be answered if we look at the biological functions of a protein complex, named cohesin.

Microorganisms offer model systems with a great versatility to generate proteins with new functionalities. As an outcome of our previous studies on the DNA replication initiator protein RepA (from plasmid pPS10), we are developing, through bottom-up Synthetic Biology approaches, novel modules derived from Winged-Helix domains (WH) that allow to control the assembly of proteins as amyloids under quasi-physiological conditions.

The research group "Cell-Biomaterial Recognition" investigates the interaction between certain metallic materials and the cells found in the environment of the implanted material under experimental conditions that simulate physiological conditions, mainly for its application in those situations that require repair and/or bone replacement. The biomaterials under study include metallic materials such as certain cobalt-chromium alloys and biodegradable materials based on magnesium or iron.

Our research program integrates biochemistry, biophysics, and bottom-up synthetic biology to reconstruct minimal bacterial division assemblies from its molecular building blocks in controlled cell-like environments.

The group is a leader in the field of cell biology of filamentous fungi. It has the key technological advantage of decades of experience in molecular biology, classical genetics, biochemistry and 4D (x,y,z,t) in vivo microscopy. Its basic research has important implications in environmental management and in biomedicine, both for its capacity to generate non-animal disease models and for the search for antifungal targets based on cell biological knowledge.