The Economic Geology of Mineral Resources research group is formed by a team with extensive experience in the study of geological resources and its activity revolves around three main areas: (1) Characterization, genesis and assessment of mineral resources; (2) Historical mining; and (3) Natural stone, historical quarries and architectural heritage. The group actively participates in European and national research projects on mineral raw materials.

RESCLIM focuses on the imprint that past climate changes have had on the characteristics and properties of the sedimentary record, accumulated both in marine and continental realms. We follow a multidisciplinary approach based on the application of geochronological tools (radiocarbon dating and chemo-, bio-, magneto- and cyclo-stratigraphy) and development of a variety of proxies (stratigraphic, sedimentologic, paleontologic, geochemical, geophysical) that provide complimentary views on how climate change impacts the sedimentary environments and its associated ecosystems.

The main goal of the Tectonic Processes and GeoResources Lab is to explore the lithospheric processes operating during extension and orogenesis, and their influence on the distribution of georesources.

The group studies biodiversity in all its dimensions, from descriptive approaches to ecological and evolutionary processes, with a focus on insects closely associated with plants, such as herbivores and pollinators. We adopt a multidisciplinary approach, generating molecular data for taxonomic, phylogenetic, and phylogeographic studies, as well as using -omics techniques for sequencing, assembly, and functional annotation of genomes in natural populations of model and non-model species. These data allow us to investigate genome evolution, environmental adaptation, and behavioral responses.

The research of the Optomechanics lab is focused on the light-matter interaction at the nanoscale, especially the exchange of electromagnetic and mechanical energy in enginereed nanophotonic cavities with applications in the area of sensors, as well as the nanofabrication and modeling of nanostructures The areas of application of these studies at the nanoscale are grouped into - Development of new diagnostic techniques for diseases through the development of new optomechanical biosensors - Development of new devices based on quantum optomechanics for the transfer of information

ONHEALTH is composed of 4 researchers (permanent position) including two scientific researchers (E. Eljarrat, M. Farré), a tenured scientist (S. Pérez) and a young researcher (M. Llorca). Additional members include 3 post-doctoral researchers, 16 PhD students, 2 laboratory assistants, and several Master's and Degree students. The group participates in various national and European funded projects, as well as in contracts with public administrations and companies, with the total funding obtained for the projects currently in force exceeding 2,500,000€.

Our group seeks to unravel the mechanisms that underlie a wide variety of neurological pathologies, in particular neurodegenerative and oncogenic disorders, which have in common an alteration in mitochondrial function. To explore how they occur, we study the interplay between the morphology, ultrastructure and dynamics of these organelles in the regulation of metabolism, respiration, redox status, and neural bioenergetics. We focus our main interest on the coordination of mitochondrial function between cells and tissues, through intercellular transfer of mitochondrial content.

Our lab studies genome protection using the BRCA2 protein as a model, exploring its role in breast cancer susceptibility. We found new partners of BRCA2 through interaction studies, including RNA helicases. BRCA2 deficiency leads to DNA-RNA hybrids accumulation, which we addressed with the RNA helicase DDX5 collaboration (Sessa et al EMBOJ 2021).