CURRENT LAB MEMBERS

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Cristina Pujades, PhD

Group Leader

Full Professor, ICREA Academia fellow cristina.pujades@upf.edu

I am Full Professor at the University Pompeu Fabra. After my PhD in Biology from the University of Barcelona (1991), I did a postdoctoral stay at the DFCI-Harvard Medical School (Boston). Then, I moved to Paris as a postdoc at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, and I got a permanent position at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (now, Sorbonne University). From that time, I have been fascinated by developmental neurobiology, and how you go from DNA and genes to the generation of form. This has been the main focus of my latest scientific career. In 2002, I had the opportunity of joining the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (now, Medicine and Life Sciences) at the University Pompeu Fabra, where we study how spatiotemporally coordinated cell progenitor specification and differentiation occur during morphogenesis to construct a functional brain. 

I have served in institutional positions, first as Academic Secretary and as Vice-Chair of the Department (2007—2015), later as Vice-Rector of Professorate and Vice-Rector of Talent Recruitment and Retaining Policy (2017—2021), and since 2023 as Vice-Rector for Research. I have been awarded the ICREA Academia (2016—2020, 2021—2025).

Gonzalo Ortiz-Alvarez, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow  gonzalo.ortiz@upf.edu

I am a postdoctoral fellow interested in the contribution of distinct proneural lineages to the growth of the zebrafish hindbrain. Previously, I have studied in Seville, Berlin and Paris for my Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD, respectively. During my Master’s I found the areas of Biology I enjoyed the most were Development and Neurobiology, so I decided to combine them for my PhD in the mechanisms of cell specification during brain development. I have continued this path for my postdoc, since I find embryonic development a truly fascinating process because of its complexity and the many question marks it still holds.

Lydvina Meister, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow  lydvina.meister@upf.edu

Postdoctoral fellow interested in EvoDevo and cell lineages. I did my undergraduate studies in Paris-Orsay, and my PhD in Banyuls sur mer (France). During my PhD, combining evolution and development I demonstrated that the vertebrate pharyngeal head mesoderm is homologous to the ventral part of the somites in Amphioxus.

 

Inês Gonçalves

PhD student in.goncalves@upf.edu 

I hold a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry and a Master’s in Molecular Genetics and Biomedicine from NOVA University, Lisbon. During my Master’s, I developed a strong interest in developmental biology and the zebrafish model, which led me to carry out my thesis at the Champalimaud Foundation Fish Platform. There, I generated and characterized transgenic zebrafish lines to study vertebrate brain structure. I later worked at the same institution as a research technician, focusing on fish breeding and rearing, genetic screening, line generation, and colony management. Driven by my interest in embryonic development and neurobiology, I joined the Pujades lab for my PhD, where I focus on understanding how neural specification and differentiation are coordinated in vivo. 
Laura García-Méndez

PhD student  laura.garciam@upf.edu

I graduated in Biology from the University of Santiago de Compostela and completed a Master ‘s degree in Advanced Genetics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. My research interests focus on the regulatory dimensions of gene expression and their role

in guiding cell fate decisions during developmental processes in diverse contexts. My project investigates the potential impact of asymmetrical inheritance of cellular components on daughter cell fate during neurogenesis in the zebrafish hindbrain.

Xavier Sabaté, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow  xavier.sabate@upf.edu

I did my master’s thesis at the Canals lab in Hospital Clínic (Barcelona), where I collaborated in the development of humanized rodent models to study neurodegenerative diseases. My PhD thesis at the Shkumatava lab in Institute Curie (Paris) focused on RNA-protein interactions. There, we demonstrated a conserved molecular mechanis of a long non-coding RNA in vertebrates, and set up a high-throughput methods to screen for ribonucleoprotein complex inhibitors. At the Pujades lab, I am studying how neurogenic fate choice occurs.

Dulce Real

Part time technician and lab manager  dulce.real@upf.edu

FORMER LAB MEMBERS

  • Matthias Blanc, PhD student
  • Carolyn Engel-Pizcueta, PhD student
  • Carla Belmonte-Mateos, PhD student
  • Covadonga Fdez-Hevia, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Ivan Belzunce, PhD student
  • Adrià Voltes, PhD student
  • Christian Cortés-Campos, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Sylvia Dyballa, PhD student
  • Javier Terriente, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Andrea Zecca, PhD student
  • Simone Calzolari, PhD student
  • Dora Sapède, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Eva Jiménez-Guri, Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Citlali Vázquez-Echeverría, PhD student
  • Ferran Aragón, PhD student