Programme (draft)

Dr. Aurora Ruiz-Herrera is an Associate Professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Coordinator of the Genome Integrity and Reproductive Biology Group. Her research focuses on the structural, functional, and evolutionary aspects of genome organization, with a particular emphasis on the germ line and its role in genetic information transmission.

She completed her PhD in Biology at UAB in 2003. Dr. Ruiz-Herrera has mentored over 60 graduate students and participated in more than 30 research projects. She has co-authored over 60 articles in prestigious journals and contributed to more than 140 presentations at national and international conferences.

Dr. Ruiz-Herrera has been involved in teaching since 1998 and held various institutional responsibilities, including coordinating postgraduate courses at UAB.

Dr. Blanca Laffon is a Full Professor of Psychobiology at the University of A Coruña. She graduated with honors in Pharmacy from the University of Santiago de Compostela in 1996 and earned her PhD in 2001, both with extraordinary awards.

Her research focuses on the biocompatibility and safety of nanomaterials and the study of frailty in aging.
With over two decades of academic experience, she has participated in around 25 research projects, authored approximately 130 research articles, and presented at numerous international conferences. Dr. Laffon has received multiple awards for her work and has held various prestigious fellowships. She has been recently elected as Numerary Academic of the Galician Royal Academy of Pharmacy.

Dr. Mariona Bustamante joined ISGlobal (former CREAL) in 2010 as a postdoctoral researcher and now has a position as staff scientist in the area of molecular epidemiology.

Her background is in biochemistry and human genetics. Her PhD focused on the identification of genetic variants associated to complex diseases and the functional validation in in vitro models. Currently, she investigates the genetic causes of complex phenotypes and their interaction with environmental exposures.

In addition, she studies the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of the exposome on health. Their position as staff scientist gives her a transversal view of the cutting edge omics methods.

Dr. Anna Laromaine is a researcher at the ICMAB-CSIC within the Group of Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites. Her scientific work is interdisciplinary encompassing chemistry, materials science and biology, and inspired by her work experience at world-leading institutions across three different continents. Her research steps are intrepid, innovative, and solid from synthesis of materials to cell cultures, pushing the state of the art while blending disciplines. She strongly believes in the power of scientists to speed the translation of materials to a final product and its potential to drive world-economies.

Currently, her research is divided into two parts: 1) the production of bacterial cellulose materials and their nanocomposites, and 2) the evaluation of nanoparticles using different approaches such as cell cultures and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

Dr. Nerea Roher is a researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), specializing in the immunology of aquatic organisms. She holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from UAB and has extensive expertise in immunology and microbiology, with a particular focus on developing antiviral vaccines for aquatic species. Her research explores how environmental factors shape the immune system.

As the director of the Institut de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina, Dr. Roher leads innovative research projects at the forefront of biotechnology and biomedicine. Her work significantly contributes to sustainable development goals.