The ECORR Research Group (Surface Electrochemistry and Corrosion), created in 2017, is the fusion of two previously existing Groups, SURFPROT (Nanocomposite Materials and Tailored Thin Films) and PIC (Interfacial Corrosion Processes). Its research activities are integrated within two priority research lines for the CENIM: 1. Corrosion Processes in Conventional and Advanced Materials. 2.

During animal development the organism cells restrict their developmental potential while acquire the different cell fates. These cells' responses depend on the extracellular cues they perceive and intrinsic factors they express and often require the precise modification of gene expression in both time and space. For example, appendage formation requires the activation of a set of genes that specifies a group of cells that will proliferate and pattern to generate the characteristic adult structure.

We focus on the study of the dynamics of biological systems combing experimental, theoretical and computational tools. Our main interests are: Nonlinear regulation in pathways and its impact on disease treatment Regulation of stem cell differentiation during developmental processes Stochasticity and effect of perturbations in gene expression

The “Tribology and Surface Protection” group is devoted to the study of the tribological properties of the surfaces and the development of nanostructured films prepared by plasma technologies with the aim of providing protection against wear, friction, temperature, oxidation, load, etc. In parallel, it is also subject of investigation, the microstructural and chemical characterization, mainly at the nanoscale, by means of advanced microscopic and spectroscopy techniques that enable the tailored synthesis of these materials and the optimization of their functional properties.

We are interested in understanding how cell division is controlled, and more specifically how before and during mitosis a number of signaling modules reorganize cellular elements with the objective of building the spindle and correctly segregating the duplicated chromosomes into two daughter cells (evidently quite an important process -think cell death, disease and mayhem in general if things go wrong with it).

Our research focuses on understanding the signaling pathways related to chronic inflammatory diseases, particularly the IL-23/IL-17 axis, which plays a key role in conditions like psoriasis, inflammatory bowel diseases, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. We aim to uncover new mediators of cytokine signaling and develop therapeutic tools to interfere with these pathways. Recent findings have shown how IL-23 influences pathogenic T cell migration and controls protein synthesis and metabolism to induce pathogenic functions.

Research in my laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms and cellular functions of proteins and how their defects can lead to disease. We are particularly interested in explaining protein malfunction, in identifying disease-causing variants, and in helping to find new therapeutic strategies to amend the activity of the faulty proteins. My group’s approach itegrates biochemical and biophysical methods to define the structure, function and evolution of these macromolecular targets.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs), also known as tumor-initiating cells or tumor-propagating cells, constitute a biologically unique subset of stem-like cells within the bulk tumor cell population. These cells are believed to be important in metastasis and chemoresistance, and they are hypothesized to be key drivers of the multistep process of oncogenesis, giving rise to the clonogenic core of tumor tissues. In my laboratory, we study CSCs in the context of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the 4th leading cause of cancer related deaths in developed countries.