People

Current members


Toni Gabaldón, Principal Investigator

ICREA Research professor, group leader at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), and the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC), and associate professor at the UPF. He leads the comparative genomics groups. His main research interests are in the fields of genomics and evolution with significant contributions to the understanding of how genes, pathways, biological organisms and communities evolve and perform their functions.


Marina Marcet-Houben, Research Engineer

I use phylogenomics and comparative genomics tools in order to study how different organisms have evolved. I am specially interested in fungal species and have worked on topics related to horizontal gene transfer, whole genome duplication and hybridization.


Hrant Hovhannisyan, Postdoctoral Researcher

The main goal of my PhD project is to shed light on host-pathogen interactions between humans and different Candida species and investigate mechanisms of pathogenicity emergence in hybrid yeasts using methods of comparative transcriptomics.


Miquel Àngel Schikora, POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Bioinformatician using genomics to tackle biomedical challenges, such as the emergence of drug resistance in microbes.


Olfat Khannous, Predoctoral researcher

Biotechnologist with expertise in Bioinformatics and passionate of scientific diffusion. Currenlty working in the development and implementation of computational tools for metagenomics in a diagnostic context. Highly interested in Genomics and Biomedical research in general.


Valentina del Olmo, Postdoctoral Researcher

Trained in genetics and the study of transcription regulatory networks in fungal pathogens. I am now interested in studying the genome of fungal hybrids through comparative genomics from an evolutionary perspective.


Juan Carlos Núñez Rodríguez, Predoctoral Researcher

My interests are focused on studying which traits determine the most important phenotypic changes in Candida spp. Such as pathogenicity, adherence, stress response or studying the processes of acquiring resistance to antifungal drugs.


Giacomo Mutti, Predoctoral researcher

Bioinformatics master student with background in biology. I’m mainly interested in evolutionary biology and I am keen on using different programming resources and statistics to unravel genome evolution and phylogenomics questions.


Martina Cardinali, PREDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

I am a Bioinformatician with a great interest in genomics, NGS data analysis, and biomedical research. My current research focuses on studying the human microbiome in health and disease in order to identify condition-specific patterns.


Moisès Bernabeu, PREDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

I am interested in unravelling the events that occurred in the transition from the prokaryotic to eukaryotic cell. Using phylogenomic data sets we search for the distances between species groups which are interesting for these events. This work is complemented by the study of the distribution of these branches’ lengths.


Saioa Manzano, PREDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Biochemist and Computational Biologist very interested in metagenomics and evolutionary biology. I am currently working on characterizing the relative timing of the process of eukaryogenesis.


Alicia Benavente García, Laboratory technician

I am a Laboratory Technician interested in microbiology and genomics, as well as giving support to the group and their members in their projects and careers.


Dániel Májer, Full-stack developer

Student of Bioinformatics and Web Application Development (HTC). Passionate about Data efficiency and Data analytics.


Eduard Ocaña-Pallarès, Postdoctoral researcher

I feel a strong curiosity towards the genomic divergence process that culminated into the extant biodiversity. I am particularly interested in reconstructing the evolutionary process by exploring the phylogenetic signal contained in the genomes of the extant organisms. There is still much to know about how genomes evolve, and how gene content change in parallel to lineage diversification


Álvaro Redondo del Río, Predoctoral researcher

Interested in the analysis of microbiomes, specialized in bioinformatics seeking to develop analysis and visualisation tools for ‘omic data


Sara Peregrina Cabredo, Predoctoral researcher

Bioinformatician with a background in biochemistry and molecular biology with a strong interest in metagenomic data analysis, matching learning and biomedical research. I am now analyzing and contrasting oral microbiome data from healthy people and patients in disease.


Mrinalini Parmar, PREDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

My research curiosity is in understanding how microbes that reside in harmony within humans interact with various internal and external stimuli that may cause changes and become virulent. These concepts may in turn be beneficial to human health once deciphered.


Vladislav Biriukov, Predoctoral Researcher

PhD student at the University of Barcelona with interests in genomics and its applications in biomedical research. My current research focuses on studying mutation events occurring in Candida species.


Gemma Montagut, Research Assistant / Lab Manager

I am a biochemist doctor with a passion for experimental methodologies and laboratory work.

I am interested in running the wet lab safely and efficiently, assessing laboratory requirements, coordinating tasks and supporting users to perform experiments to high standards.


Islam Ahaik, Predoctoral researcher

My passion lies in understanding the mechanisms behind antifungal resistance in Candida species and exploring innovative approaches to combat it. Additionally, I am highly interested in the application of natural compounds as potential antifungal agents


Arnau Albert Sanchez, Web-developer

I’m a web developer that likes to code in Python, Js and PHP.
Passionate about making UI.


TIM BALTUSSEN, POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

Molecular microbiologist passionate about fungi and trained in fungal genetics. Studied genes associated with the germination of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus. Currently working on yeast genetics, mainly Candida species.

Mariana López Matas, Management Assistant

I am a biologist specialized in laboratory and project management.
My main aim is to facilitate the advancement of scientific projects from the management point of view.
I like to support researchers in everything they need by sharing my knowledge and promoting a good atmosphere in the group.


Cecilia García, laboratory technician

I am a Biologist with expertise in NGS-based approaches in the context of translational biomedical research. Really enthusiastic about giving support to the group projects.

Miguel Ángel Fernández Alcón, Master Student

Educated in biotechnology and with some expertise in food, clinical, and environmental microbiology. Presently, I am studying the oral microbiome dynamics in response to various stimuli.


Anastasia Sukhorukova, Undergraduate student

Bioinformatics bachelor’s degree student skilled in Python and R. Passionate about genomics, evolutionary biology and biomedical research. Currently focused on the study of the human microbiome.

Past members

Cinta Pegueroles, Research Engineer

Period: 2014-2020

Ester Saus, Research Assistant


Ewa Ksiezopolska, Postdoctoral Researcher


Irene Julca, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2015-2019

Jesse Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher


Laia Carreté, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2014-2019

Miguel Naranjo-Ortiz, Predoctoral Researcher

Period: 2015-2019

Pedro González


Rosa Fernández, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2017-2020

Susana Iraola Guzmán, Research Assistant

Period: 2016-2020

Uciel Chorostecki, Postdoctoral Researcher


Verónica Mixão, Predoctoral Researcher

Period: 2018-2020

Manu Molina, Research Engineer

Period: 2018-2021

Leszek Pryszcz, PhD student

Period: 2017

Elizabeth Gabriela Aguileta Estrada, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2013

Damien De Vienne, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2013

Filipe Garrett Vieira, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2010

Jaime Huerta Cepas, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2013

Antonios Alexandros Pittis, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2017

Ernst Thuer, Predoctoral Researcher

Period: 2017

Salvador Jesus Capella Gutierrez, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2015

Luis Adolfo Bejarano Ardura, Research Assistant

Period: 2017

Maxime Borry, Research Assistant

Period: 2016

Javier Díez Pérez, Research Assistant

Period: 2010

Diego Javier Kormes, Research Assistant

Period: 2010

José Luis Rodríguez Alés, Research Assistant

Period: 2014

Fran Supek, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2016

Diego Fuentes, Associate Researcher - Bioinformatician

Period: 2020-2024

Anna Vlasova, Bioinformatician

Period: 2020

Guifré Torruella, Postdoctoral researcher

Period: 2021-2024

Ortansa Raluca Ghita, Undergraduate student

Period: 2021

Matteo Schiavinato, Postdoctoral Researcher

Period: 2021-2023

Kautar El Kasmi, Laboratory Technician

Period: 2023

Past visitors

Matteo Schiavinato

Period: 2018

Enric Méndez Rabella, Student

Period: 2019

Marta Álvarez Presas, UB

Period: 2018

Marcello Benevelli

Period: 2018

Alberto Martín Dávila

Period: 2011

Vladyslav Dembrovskyi

Period: 2018

Ivan Denisov

Period: 2012

Víctor Fernández Rodríguez

Period: 2017

Radina Georgieva

Period: 2015

Alicia Daniela Gómez

Period: 2018

Ahmed Ibrahem Hafez Khafaga

Period: 2017

Silvia Hinojosa Alvarez

Period: 2013

Lee Jun Hoe

Period: 2009

Katarína Juríková

Period: 2013

Zhihao Ling

Period: 2011

Larissa Lopes Silva

Period: 2010

Alexander Macdonald

Period: 2012

John McCutcheon

Period: 2018

Hrvoje Misetic

Period: 2018

Hirzahida Mohd Padil

Period: 2012

Ollivier Morgane

Period: 2009

Luba Pardo Cortes

Period: 2008

Antonio Pérez Hansen

Period: 2017

Francisco Pisciottano

Period: 2018

Teresa Puig Pijuan

Period: 2013

Antonio José Rodríguez Sánchez

Period: 2018

Joseph Spatafora

Period: 2016

Brian Steven Alejandro

Period: 2014

Denis Tagu

Period: 2018

Isabel Valdearenas Pelegrina

Period: 2018

Erica Valentini

Period: 2010

Jolien van Hooff

Period: 2018

Jue Wang

Period: 2013

Elena Cabello Yeves, Master Student

Period: 2019-2020

Geovanny Risco, Undergraduate Student

Period: 2020-2021

Joel Moro, Master Student

Period: 2020

Jerónimo Parra Parra, Master Student

Period: 2020

Ismael Collado Cala, Student

Period: 2021

Maria Artigues, Undergraduate Student

Period: 2021

Ana Álvarez, Master Student

Period: 2021

Andrés Garisoain Zafra, Student

Period: 2021

Mercedes Castro, Undergraduate student

Period: 2021

Ömer Ege Kara, Undergraduate student

Period: 2021

Madison Snyder, Undergraduate student

Period: 2021

Saptashwa Datta, Masters student

Period: 2021

Javier Maravall, Master student

Period: 2022

Ghizlane Tahiri Zainane, Predoctoral researcher

Period: 2022

Lorena Lorenzo Fernández

Period: 2023

Anna Bernadas Call, UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

Period: 2023