Dr. Toni Gabaldón is ICREA Research Professor jointly affiliated to the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC), where he leads the Comparative Genomics group (www.cgenomics.org). His research focuses on understanding underlying genomic bases of organismal adaptations, particularly in microbial organisms. He has developed and applied computational strategies to address relevant transitions such as the origin of eukaryotes, the emergence of novel fungal pathogens, or the acquisition of resistance by microbes during therapy. Dr. Gabaldón has received honors and awards such as the EMBO and American Academy of Microbioloy membership, the ERC starting and consolidator grants, and the Margaret Dayhoff award and is considered a highly cited researcher by clarivate analytics.

Juan Manuel Herrero, a veterinary medicine graduate, was born in Alicante (Spain) in 1983. After his graduation (University of Murcia, 2007) he joined the Genetic Area of the Animal Production Department in that University. There, he spent five years developing a robust research foundation in animal molecular genetics. His academic journey led to a PhD thesis Genetic Characterization of the Chato Murciano Pig (Murcia, 2012). In that summer of 2012, Juan Manuel moved to The Netherlands to continue his active collaboration with the Animal Breeding and Genomics Group (Wageningen University). There, he refined his genetic data analysis and researcher skills. JM Herrero’s completed a second PhD thesis Conservation genetics of local and wild pig populations: insight in genetic diversity and demographic history (The Netherlands, 2013) and 3 years as Postdoctoral Researcher (2012-2015).

Since 2015, he has been applying his expertise at the Pig Improvement Company, focusing on Genetic Services support to PIC customers.

Since the beginning of my scientific career, I have been deeply interested in understanding cell differentiation and how its dysregulation leads to genetically complex diseases, particularly autoimmune diseases and blood cancers. During my PhD (CNIO, Madrid, Spain), I explored this from an epigenetic perspective, revealing for the first time the role of DNA methylation in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity (1-2). Later, during my postdoc at the Babraham Institute (Cambridge, UK), I demonstrated that spatial chromatin organization undergoes profound changes during hematopoiesis, which not only reflect differentiation trajectories but also enable large-scale interpretation of genetic susceptibility to disease. During this time, I also gained in-depth bioinformatic expertise to complement my wet-lab background (3-8).

In 2019, I joined the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC; Barcelona, Spain) as an independent group leader. My team integrates epigenetic and spatial chromatin organization insights, leveraging both experimental and computational approaches to deepen our understanding of hematopoiesis in health and disease (9-12).

My seminal contributions include pioneering demonstrations of the role of epigenetic deregulation in autoimmunity (1) (>750 citations), showcasing the power of gene promoter interactomes to reveal insights into the genomic regulatory mechanisms underlying diseases (4) (>1000 citations), the development of the Promoter Capture Hi-C (PCHi-C) method (4, 8), and its low-input version (liCHi-C) (10-11), as well as demonstrating the role of genome organization in preventing malignant transformation (12).

(1) Genome Res 2010*; (2) Mol Cancer Res 2011*; (3) Nat Genet 2015*; (4) Cell 2016*; (5) Mol Cell 2017*; (6) Genome Biol 2017*; (7) Nat Commun 2017*; (8) J Vis Exp 2018*#; (9) Nat Commun 2021#; (10) Nat Commun 2023#; (11) J Vis Exp, 2023#; (12) Nat Commun, 2024#;                                                          [* First author, #Corresponding Author]

Diego obtained a Degree in Biological Sciences in 1999 and a PhD Degree in 2006 from the University of Malaga. After a postdoctoral training at the Harvard Medical School (2008-2011) he returned to Spain with a Ramón y Cajal fellowship. He is currently full professor of microbiology at the University of Malaga (since 2022).

His scientific interest has focused on the study of bacterial communities, specifically on the chemical nature of the extracellular matrix, and the ecological role of this molecular framework in the establishment of different trophic relationships.

Pablo Lapunzina es Profesor Titular de Pediatría y Genética Humana en Madrid, España. Jefe de Grupo de Investigación del Instituto de Genética Médica y Molecular del Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, e Investigador Principal y Jefe de Grupo de Investigación del CIBERER.

Licenciado en Medicina por la Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Realizó su residencia como residente de pediatría en el Hospital de Niños de Buenos Aires, donde posteriormente fue Jefe de Residentes e Instructor. Posee un Máster en Genética Molecular y un Máster en Gestión Hospitalaria. Es especialista en medicina embriofetal. Obtuvo su doctorado en la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Es experto en Inteligencia Artificial del MIT (Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts, Boston, EE. UU., 2021).

Es autor de más de 400 artículos, 35 capítulos y 11 libros. Su trabajo se ha centrado en trastornos genómicos, síndromes de sobrecrecimiento, síndromes de retraso del crecimiento y síndromes de alteración de la impronta. Junto con su grupo de investigación y en colaboración con varios grupos internacionales, ha descrito casi 25 nuevas enfermedades y síndromes junto con la identificación de varios genes asociados a enfermedades.