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.

 

Carolyn Engel-Pizcueta, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow  carolyn.engel@upf.edu

I did the Master in Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona after my undergraduate studies in Biomedicine in the very same university. I just defended my PhD at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra about how cell division modes are coordinated in the boundary cells and what are the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved.

Matthias Blanc

PhD student  matthias.blanc@upf.edu

I am interested in cell lineages, cell differentiation and morphogenesis during neural development. Personal interests in engineering and 3D-printing. I did my undergraduate and master studies in Paris Sorbonne University (France). I am studying the contribution of different progenitor cell pools to the differentiated neuronal populations. I developed an open-source platform to allow the quantification of neuronal volumes.

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.

Sukanya Kumar

PhD student sukanya.kumar@upf.edu

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Genetics, Biochemistry, and Biotechnology from Bangalore University and a Master’s degree in Genetics from the University of Mysore, India. I also accumulated some research experience working at the Indian Institute of Science as a Research Assistant, where I was involved in elucidating the role of a novel mutation resulting in improper eye development. To pursue my interests in developmental biology further, I joined the Pujades lab. In my PhD project, I aim to understand how neuronal diversity is generated during embryonic development.

Dulce Real

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

FORMER LAB MEMBERS

  • 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