Ángel Raya is an ICREA Research Professor at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL). He obtained his MD in 1990 from the University of Valencia, Spain and a PhD degree from the same university in 1995 for studies carried out at the Department of Physiology and at the Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. He pursued postdoctoral training at the Instituto de Investigaciones Citológicas (currently, Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe) in Valencia, from 1995-2000. He then was a Research Associate (2000-2004) and a Senior Research Associate (2004-2006) in the Gene Expression Laboratory of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA. He returned to Spain in 2006 and was the Scientific Coordinator at the CMRB until 2009, when he joined the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) as Group Leader of the Control of Stem Cell Potency group, until 2015. From 2014 to 2019 he was Director at CMRB.
Research interests
Our research work aims to understand the tissue, cellular and molecular mechanisms that determine the regenerative response in certain species of vertebrates, as well as the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that control cellular reprogramming. This phenomenon provides a link between the traditional study of epimorphic regeneration and the induced pluripotency strategies of regenerative medicine.
Selected publications
- Pesce M, Duda GN, Forte G, et al. 2022, 'Cardiac fibroblasts and mechanosensation in heart development, health and disease', Nature Reviews Cardiology, 10.1038/s41569-022-00799-2.
- Mazuelas H, Magallón-Lorenz M, Fernández-Rodríguez J, Uriarte-Arrazola I, Richaud-Patin Y, Terribas E, Villanueva A, Castellanos E, Blanco I, Raya Á, Chojnacki J, Heyn H, Romagosa C, Lázaro C, Gel B, Carrió M & Serra E 2022, ‘Modeling iPSC-derived human neurofibroma-like tumors in mice uncovers the heterogeneity of Schwann cells within plexiform neurofibromas’, Cell Rep 38(7):110385.
- Dajani R, Jiwani B, Nanji A, et al. 2022, 'Diversifying stem cell debates: Including Muslim contexts and perspectives', Stem Cell Reports, 17, 5, 1019 - 1022.
Selected research activities
Invited speaker:
Chronic Diseases Research Center (CEDOC) Seminar series. Lisbon, February
XI Jornada de Cardiogenética. HCU Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, November
9th Annual Meeting ProRegEM, NOVA Medical School, Lisbon, December
Keynote speaker:
3rd Biotechnology World Symposium and 4º Congreso Estudiantil de Ingeniería Biotecnológica SEIBT, Mazatlán, Mexico, October