I am Full Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF). After my PhD in Biology from the Univ de Barcelona (1991), I did a postdoctoral stay at the DFCI-Harvard Medical School (Boston). Then, I moved to Paris first as a postdoc at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), and then I got a permanent position at the Univ Pierre et Marie Curie. 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 (DCEXS) at the UPF, where we work in trying to understand how spatiotemporally coordinated cell progenitor specification and differentiation occur during morphogenesis to construct a functional brain. I served first as Academic Secretary and then as Vice-Chair of the DCEXS, as VR of Professorate and currently as VR of Talent Recruitment and Retaining Policy.

Rafael Maldonado received his Medical Degree (1985) from the University of Cadiz (Spain), where he also obtained a PhD in Neuropsychopharmacology (1988) on the study of morphine dependence. He obtained a PhD in Molecular Pharmacochemistry (1990) at the INSERM U266-University René Descartes Paris V (France) on the study of the endogenous opioid system. He was a postdoctoral fellow (1990-1991) at the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, USA), directed by Prof. George F. Koob, where he studied opioid and cocaine dependence. He returned to the laboratory of Molecular Pharmacochemistry (INSERM U266), directed by Prof. Bernard P. Roques in Paris, and he obtained a permanent position as Scientific Researcher (CR-1) in the INSERM (1992) and lead a team devoted to the study of the cannabinoid and opioid systems. In 2000 he obtained a permanent position as Professor of Pharmacology at the University Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona), where he is director of the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology.

Elena Hidalgo graduated in Pharmacy at the Universitat de Barcelona, where she obtained her PhD at the Biochemistry Department in 1991. She performed two postdoctoral stages during eight years in the labs of Bruce Demple (Harvard School of Public Health, Boston) and Nic Jones (Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London), studying how cells respond to oxidative stress. She was recruited by Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) in 2000, where she is now full professor. As a University member, she is both teaching and working on research as the co-director of the Oxidative Stress and Cell Cycle Group.

Juana Díez is an Associate Professor at the University Pompeu Fabra. After obtaining her PhD in Biology from the University Autónoma de Madrid, she made a postdoctoral stay at the Institute of Virology (Madison, USA) where she was subsequently hired as Research Associate. Since 2001 she leads the Molecular Virology group at the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, UPF. She has received two prizes for innovation in teaching by the Social Council of the UPF. From 2017 she is the coordinator of the Human Biology Studies at the UPF. 

He obtained his B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Barcelona where he also obtained his PhD (awarded with the “Premi Claustre de Doctors de la UB”) at the Animal Biology Department (Anthropology Unit) in 1997. He performed predoctoral and postdoctoral stays at the Zoologisches Institut (LMU, Munich), the Anthony Nolan Trust-Royal Free Hospital (London), and the Department of Forensic Medicine (University of Helsinki), studying human population genetics. He obtained a “Ramon y Cajal” position in 2001 at the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (DCEXS) at the UPF where he is now Full Professor. In 2007 he received the Prize for Outstanding Teaching by the UPF Social Council. From 2007 to 2016 he has been the director of the UPF PhD program in Biomedicine, and from 2014 to 2016 the Vicedirector of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) in Barcelona. He is the Director of the DCEXS and the Scientific Director of the Maria de Maeztu Excellent Unit awarded to the DCEXS.

Elena Bosch (Barcelona, 1972) graduated in Biology at the Universitat de Barcelona in 1995 and, after pursuing her doctoral research on population genomics of the North African populations, obtained her PhD at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. In February 2000, she moved to the UK, where she was appointed Research Assistant at the University of Leicester to work on the human Y chromosome diversity and dynamics, in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Jobling. In 2004, thanks to a “Ramón y Cajal” contract, she established her own research group on Evolutionary Population Genetics at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. In December 2008, she was awarded tenure with an Associate Professor (“professor agregat”) position that changed to Assistant Professor (“professor titular”) in February 2012. In 2013, she was awarded with the Prize for Outstanding Teaching by the Social Council of the UPF. From June 2017 she is Deputy Director of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, IBE (CSIC-UPF).