The research group on the sociology of innovation studies the social conditions that contribute to innovative societies both in economic and social terms. It focuses on the elements of social and cultural structure that shape innovation systems and their effects in knowledge generation, knowledge transfer and diffusion of innovation in firms, public administrations and non-governmental institutions.

The long baggage accumulated by the research group in the field of social and health policies has facilitated the current focus on the study of social identity, subjective well-being and human behavior and its influence on the end of life process, specifically in "rights of exit" (euthanasia, assisted suicide, etc.), as in the social dimension of pain.

DEMOCRETS is part of the SOCIETY research area of ​​the CSIC. From sociology and political science, its members analyze: (a) the new forms of citizen intervention in public affairs, (b) the governance strategies of the immigration fact, and (c) the political and social action, participation and representation in democratic and authoritarian contexts. These three lines of work contribute to several of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, especially No. 10 (reduce social inequality) and No. 16 (build responsible institutions).

Computational biology lab. The work is devoted to the integration of evolutive and structural information to study the function of proteins, the simulation of dynamic processes of protein-protein and protein-ligand interaction, the development of novel "in silico" drug design systems and the generation of new quantitative methods for computational biology.

The research focuses on understanding the mechanisms behind neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) using neuronal cell models. The team investigates the impact of herpes simplex 1 virus (HSV-1) on the endolysosomal pathway and cholesterol metabolism, both implicated in AD-like neurodegeneration. They use 2D and 3D neural models derived from human progenitor cells to study these pathways. Preliminary results show that HSV-1 infection leads to AD-like features in these models, including Aβ accumulation and altered cholesterol levels.

Research focuses on understanding the role of cellular barriers in the human inflammatory response. They investigate how endothelial cells control barrier properties in inflammation, targeting RhoA GTPases for therapeutic intervention. Hepatic barriers' role in immune surveillance, cancer control, and tissue regeneration is also explored, specifically ICAM-1's hepatocyte polarization. Novel methods, like 3D hepatic organoids, aid research. Collaborations with industry address inflammatory markers in corneal epithelial barriers.

Cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of death in developed countries. Risk factors such as increased blood pressure or plasma cholesterol, smoking, obesity, diabetes, pollution or a sedentary way of life, exert their actions on top of a sophisticated machine composed by a pump (the heart) and tube network (the vasculature), whose biomechanical properties depend on the extracellular matrix. Far from being an stiff and static material, the extracellular matrix is a dynamic structure able to respond to a number of signals as a consequence or damage or in the context of a hereditary disease.

Maintenance of genome stability largely relies on faithful DNA replication. However, the continuous damage of the genomes by genotoxic agents has rendered necessary the emergence of repair mechanisms to prevent the deleterious effects that the permanence of such damages could cause.

Our group aims to unveil the structure of cellular machines to gain mechanistic insight into macromolecular function and assist the development of biomedical applications. For this, we use electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) and X-ray crystallography, both providing information to atomic resolution, combined with other biophysical and biochemical techniques. This integrative methodology is applied to study essential cell processes such as genome transcription, DNA repair and bacterial cell division.

The activity of the Group includes the monitoring and analysis of the variability of the Earth's ionosphere and geomagnetic field as well as the study of the water cycle and climate change impacts on Mediterranean water systems.