Xavier Trepat received a BSc in Physics in 2000 and a BSc in Engineering in 2001. In 2004 he obtained his PhD from the Medical School at the University of Barcelona. He then joined the Program in Molecular and Integrative Physiological Sciences at Harvard University as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2008 he became a "Ramón y Cajal" researcher at the University of Barcelona and in January 2011 an ICREA Research Professor at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). He is Group Leader of the Integrative Cell and Tissue Dynamics research line at IBEC. He received the Banc de Sabadell Award for Biomedical Research (2015), was elected EMBO Member (2018), won the "Constantes y Vitales" Award from A3Media (2021), and in 2024 received both the Lilly Foundation Award and the Jaume I Award for Biomedical Research.
Research interests
We aim at understanding how physical forces and molecular control modules cooperate to drive biological function. We develop new technologies to map and perturb the main physical properties that determine how cells and tissues grow, move, invade and remodel. By combining this physical information with systematic molecular perturbations and computational models we explore the principles that govern the interplay between chemical and physical cues in living tissues. We study how these principles are regulated in physiology and development, and how they are derailed in cancer.
Selected publications
- Fortunato IC, Brückner DB, Grosser S, Nautiyal R, Rossetti L, Bosch-Padrós M, Trebicka J, Roca-Cusachs P, Sunyer R, Hannezo E & Trepat X 2025, 'Single-cell migration along and against confined haptotactic gradients', Nature physics. 21, 1638–1647.
- Perucca A, Llonín AG, Benach OM, Hallopeau C, Rivas EI, Linares J, Garrido M, Sallent-Aragay A, Golde T, Colombelli J, Dalaka E, Linacero J, Cazorla M, Galan T, Pastor Viel J, Badenas X, Recort-Bascuas A, Comerma L, Fernandez-Nogueira P, Rovira A, Roca-Cusachs P, Albanell J, Trepat X, 2025, 'Micro Immune Response On-chip (MIRO) models the tumour-stroma interface for immunotherapy testing', Nature communications, 16 (1):1279.
- Lemahieu, G et al. 2025, 'RAB5A Promotes Active Fluid Wetting by Reprogramming Breast Cancer Spheroid Mechanics', Advanced science. 12, 34, e03569.