Our team applies engineering techniques to investigate the function and manipulate the central and peripheral nervous system. Research performed in our lab focus on functional recovery and mobility after neurological injuries using neuromodulation approaches. We design breakthrough technology-based interventions to promote neurorecovery through neural interfaces. These interfaces allow us to record neural activity and stimulate the nervous system to modulate and strengthen neural pathways. Currently, the main line of research carried out in our lab is Neuroprosthetics for tremor reduction.

Cancer doesn't kill primarily through the initial tumor; it's metastasis—the spread of cancer cells to distant organs—that's responsible for over 90% of cancer-related deaths. Yet, the complex mechanisms that drive metastasis – the factors that allow cancer cells to break away, travel, and thrive in new environments – are still not fully understood. In the Drivers and Biomarkers of Metastasis Lab, we're determined to crack the code of this complex process.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths both in Spain and worldwide. In addition, the 5-year-survival rate of less than 20Ͽas barely improved over the last decades. Approximately one quarter of these tumors are driven by mutations in KRAS, but so far no selective therapeutic strategy has been approved for these patients. Although inhibitors against a subset of KRAS oncoproteins have shown promising results in early phase trials, the majority of KRAS-mutant tumors will not benefit from these inhibitors. Moreover, resistance to these targeted therapies is a major concern.

Numerous proteins initially identified as regulators of cell death programs appear to support basic cellular functions without inducing cell death. Leveraging our lab's expertise and resources, we aim to uncover the molecular regulation and implementation of these newly emerging non-lethal functions in both physiological and pathological contexts, with a special focus on the evolutionarily conserved caspase protein family.

The main interest of the Pharmacogenomics and Tumor Biomarkers Group is understanding how genomic variation modifies drug treatment response, with the ultimate goal of using this knowledge to design more specific drug treatments. In cancer, drug therapy failure is a major clinical problem and developing safer and more effective anticancer drug treatment strategies is urgently needed. Our top priority is improving the survival and quality of life of cancer patients.

We study host-pathogen interactions, with a special focus on Rickettsia. Rickettsia includes obligate intracellular pathogens that replicate in the host cell cytosol, where bacteria can polymerize host actin for motility and cell-to-cell dissemination. Despite Rickettsia are spreading worldwide and cause life-threatening infections in humans, the infection biology of these pathogens is poorly understood, mainly due to their genetic intractability.

The long-term interest of our lab is to contribute to the better understanding of (1) how the architecture and function of specific cell compartments is regulated, and how their integrity is ensured; (2) how these regulatory mechanisms are integrated with signalling networks controlling inflammation and innate immunity, and (3) how these principles modulate tissue repair and fibrosis, innate defence against pathogens, or aging-associated decline.

In imAIgene-lab, we utilize diverse artificial intelligence tools spanning computer vision, single-cell technologies, and data analytics to extract biologically significant insights from microscopy data. Our research encompasses two main areas. Firstly, we delve into understanding the intricate behaviors and functions of cells within two critical areas of oncology: (1) deciphering the mode of action and heterogeneity in tumor response to immunotherapy, and (2) investigating the complex dynamics of tumor invasion.

The GCC group is dedicated to the research of heterogeneous catalysts for their application in chemical reactions using renewable materials such as biomass wastes or carbon dioxide to obtain fuels or materials. To this end, the group studies the synthesis of catalysts and their behaviour in liquid or gas phase reactions. GCC also studies the synthesis of magnetic materials and its use in magnetothermal catalysis. This is expected to improve the energy efficiency of the processes by reducing energy consumption and heating time.

The Synthetic Biology and Biocatalysis Group (SynBioCat) focuses on understanding and applying enzymatic and cellular processes in organisms to design biosystems for strategic application in various biotechnological sectors. We utilize advanced synthetic biology tools to develop enzymes, metabolic pathways, and genomes with functional or innovative improvements.