Born in Barcelona in 1966. PhD in Genetics at Hospital Duran i Reynals, Universitat de Barcelona (1994). Award in Human Genetics by the Spanish Association of Human Genetics (1995). HHMI postdoctoral fellow on Gene Therapy for Cystic Fibrosis, at the Internal Medicine Dept, University of Iowa, USA (1994-97). EMBO fellow in Genethon III (Evry, France) (1997-99) on viral vectors for Gene Therapy. Postdoctoral fellow on Gene Therapy (2000-2001) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). ICREA Research Professor at the UAB since 2001. Director of the Vector Production Unit, since 2004, and Assistant Professor of the UAB since 2005. He has published 95 papers, generated 14 patents, and co-founded 2 spin-offs in biotechnology: NanoTherapix (2009) and Kogenix Therapeutics (2016). Dr Chillon is currently the coordinator of the Advance Therapy Program of VHIR as well as scientific advisor of several biotech companies and patient's associations.
Research interests
Medicine still has many challenges to solve especially on complex diseases where a large number of both, genetic and environmental factors, are involved. Among them, aging-associated diseases and rare disorders have attracted attention because there are no effective curative treatments for them. Some of these diseases affecting the nervous system, which in addition is difficult to access and to manipulate with classical pharmacological treatments. To address these problems we have focused our research interests on three main objectives: (1) gene therapy strategies for diseases affecting the nervous system, such as rare neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders, such as SPG52, GNB1 Encephalopathy, and ADSL Deficiency; (2) gene therapy strategies using chronokines for age associated diseases such as cognitive decline and dementia, but also osteopenia and sarcopenia; and (3) development of more efficient and less immunogenic viral vectors.
Selected publications
- Roig-Soriano J, Edo A, Verdés S, Martín-Alonso C, Sanchez-de-Diego C, Rodriguez-Estevez L, Serrano AL, Abraham CR, Bosch A, Ventura F, Jordan BA, Muñoz-Cánoves P & Chillón M 2025, 'Long-term effects of s-KL treatment in wild-type mice: Enhancing longevity, physical well-being, and neurological resilience', Molecular therapy, 33 - 4 - 1449 - 1465.
- Esandi J, Renault P, Capilla MD, Blanch R, Edo A, Ramirez D, Bosch A, Almolda B, Saura CA, Giraldo J & Chillon M 2025, 'HEBE: A novel chimeric chronokine for ameliorating memory deficits in Alzheimer's Disease', Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, 183 - 117815.
- Brao A, Sánchez A, Rodríguez I, del Rey J, Lope-Piedrafita S, Prat E, Nunes V, Chillón M, Estévez R & Bosch A 2025, 'Gene therapy rescues brain edema and motor function in a mouse model of megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts', Molecular therapy, 33 - 4 - 1434 - 1448.
Selected research activities
PhD Thesis:
- Laura Rodriguez Estevez. Doctoral Thesis. Title: Development of a gene therapy approach for the treatment of hereditary spastic paraplegia type 52 (SPG52). Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, November 2025.