Members' Directory

Biography: 1997: Master of Science (Biology) - University of Aarhus, Denmark
1999: PhD - Laboratory of Joergen Kjems, University of Aarhus, Denmark
2000-2004: Post doctoral fellow - Laboratory of Iain Mattaj, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany
2004-2006: 'Ramon y Cajal' researcher - Institute for Biomedical Research, Barcelona, Spain
2007- : Principal Investigator - Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology, Seville, Spain

Biography: 1982 Graduate in Biology (Univ. Complutense of Madrid, Spain)
1986 PhD in Biology (Univ. Complutense of Madrid and Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas-CSIC, Spain)
1987-1988 Post-Doctoral scientist, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas-CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
1988-1991 Post-Doctoral scientist, Institut für Molekularbiologie und Tumorforschung. (Lab Prof. M. Beato), Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany.
1991-1994 Post-Doctoral researcher, EMBL Gene Expression Program (Lab. Dr. H. G. Stunnenberg). Heidelberg, Germany.
1995-1996 Research Associate, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas-CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
Since 1997 Staff Scientist and Research Group Leader at the Instituto De Biomedicina de Valencia (CSIC)., Valencia, Spain.

Research interests: Unraveling the molecular mechanisms through which Nuclear Hormone Receptor signalling (mainly Retinoic Acid and Thyroid Hormone) influences cell differentiation in mammalian neural cells.

Biography: Rosa Barrio got her master degree in Biology (specialty: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) from the Autonoma University of Madrid (UAM) in 1988. She did her Ph. D. in the Center of Molecular Biology ?Severo Ochoa? (CBMSO), a mixer centre between the UAM and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). During her Ph. D., granted by the Basque Government, she studied the ubiquitin genes using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system. After she got her Ph. D. in 1993 she moved to the laboratory of Professor Fotis C. Kafatos in Harvard University (USA) and soon after she was granted by the Human Capital and Mobility Program form the European Union to continue her research in Crete. In 1995 she was granted by the Spanish Ministery of Education to move to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany), always under the supervision of Professor Kafatos, where she continued her research on Spalt proteins and BPM signaling during the wing and nervous system development in Drosophila. In 2001 she moved to the CBMSO (UAM/CSIC) in Madrid, to work with Dr. J. F. de Celis in the laboratory of Professor Antonio García-Bellido, and she obtained a Ramón y Cajal contract in 2003. Since December 2004 she is in charge of the Laboratory 1 in the Functional Genomics Unit at CIC bioGUNE, where she will continue her research on Spalt transcription factors and BPM signaling in Drosophila.

Biography: Born in Barcelona on April 3, 1959.
Married, children: 4
I studied Biology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1977-1981) and did my PhD Thesis at the Institut de Biologia Fonamental (Supervisor: Dr. Enrique Querol) (UAB). PhD degree at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1987).
Postdoctoral at the Centre d'Investigació i Desenvolupament (1988-1989) in the group of Dr. Ferran Azorín. Postdoctoral at EMBL in the group of Dr.Iain Mattaj (1990-1992). Permanent researcher at the Institut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona, CSIC since 1993.
Research lines:
- Drosophila GAGA factor in activation and repression of transcription.
- Drosophila histone H1.

Biography: Francisco Blanco obtained his Bachelor and Doctorate degrees in Chemistry at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and did his Ph.D. thesis as supervised by J. L. Nieto at the Instituto de Estructura de la Materia - CSIC, Madrid, in 1992. As a Graduate student he used Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy for the conformational analysis of peptides in solution as models of the early stages in protein folding. From 1993 - 1997 he was as a Postdoctoral Fellow at EMBL- Heidelberg in L. Serrano’s Group to work on protein folding using protein and peptide models. In 1997 he moved to R.Tycko’s Lab at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, NIH, Bethesda-USA), as Visiting Fellow. Blanco applied the techniques of specific isotope labelling and solid state NMR to the analysis of the HIV-Rev protein structure, which assembles into fibers. In the year 2000 he returned to Spain to work with M. Rico at the Instituto de Química Física “Rocasolano” - CSIC, Madrid, to participate in an international structural genomics project. In 2002 he was awarded a Ramón y Cajal contract and moved to the CNIO to lead the NMR group. He characterized the tumour suppressor ING4 as a methylated histone tail reader, and and other proteins involved in DNA repair. In december 2007 he joined the Structural Biology Unit at the CIC bioGUNE, where he works on the structural characterization of proteins and protein-protein interactions involved in cell adhesion, chromatin remodelling and DNA repair.