Andrés Ozaita graduated in Biology at the University of the Basque Country (1992). He obtained his PhD degree in Biology (1996) at the University of the Balearic Islands in the field of Neuropharmacology. He did his postdoctoral training at the New York University School of Medicine (1997-2003) focused on the study of the molecular components of neuronal and cardiac excitability. In 2003, he was appointed Ramón y Cajal research fellow in the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences at University Pompeu Fabra. In 2008 he joined the faculty of this department where he is Professor of Pharmacology (2020). He received an American Heart Association postdoctoral award (2001), a Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant (2004). He obtained the Dr. Antoni Esteve Foundation award in Pharmacology research (2011 and 2015) and the Ramon Trias Fargas award (2017) by the Fundació Catalana Síndrome de Down.

Francesc Posas is Full Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and the Director of IRB Barcelona (Institute for Research in Biomedicine (2018-). After obtaining his doctorate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1995), he made a postdoctoral stay at Harvard University (Boston, USA). From 1999 co-leads the Cell Signaling Research Group (https://www.irbbarcelona.org/en/research/cell-signaling). He was the chair of the Department of Health and Experimental Sciences at the UPF (2007-2013), Vice-rector for Science Policy at the UPF (2013-2017) and Commisioner for UPF scientific strategy (2017-2018). Dr. Posas received the award to Young Investigators from the Catalan Government (2001), EMBO Young Investigator Program (2000), EURYI to young investigators (ESF) (2004), EMBO member (2006), awarded with an ICREA Academia (2009-2014) and the “Carmen and Severo Ochoa” Award (2011). Recipient of an ERC Advanced Grant (2012).

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.