Biography

My Ph.D. studies were carried out at the Maimonides Institute of Biomedical Research of Córdoba (IMIBIC) in Dr. Mariano Rodríguez’s research group, Calcium Metabolism and Vascular Calcification, under the guidance of Dr. Juan R. Muñoz Castañeda and Dr. Yolanda Almadén, wherein I investigated mineral and bone alterations associated with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). During my Ph.D., I stayed more than 8 months at the Institute for Research & Innovation in Health (i3S)/ Nephrology Service of the São João Hospital, in Porto (Portugal), where I acquired expertise in the field of renal osteodystrophy and bone histomorphometry analysis, contributing to build a bone histomorphometry unit in Cordoba supported by FEDER funds. In 2019, I was awarded my PhD with Cum Laude and International Mention. My research has resulted in relevant publications, which have encouraged the development of new clinical studies confirming our results, pointing to a better understanding of the mineral and bone disorders in CKD and a more appropriate treatment of the patients. In addition, results of my research have produced 2 international patents, one related to the pro-osteogenic properties of magnesium-based materials and solutions and another focused on a medication derived from mesenchymal stem cells to treat osteoarthritis in veterinary medicine.
In 2020, I joined the Vascular and Renal Translational Research Group at the Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida), holding a Sara Borrell postdoctoral contract (CD19/00055) funded by the Carlos III Health Institute, where I am supervising a Ph.D. thesis in the Doctoral Program in Health as co-director. During my postdoctoral period, I stayed at the i3S in Portugal for 1 year. Most of the stays carried out were supported by the Spanish Society of Nephrology.
The results of my research has been extensively disseminated: 21 scientific publications (6 as first author and 2 as corresponding author) and 30 congress communications, both national (17) and international (13). In addition, I awarded the prize at the most relevant research publication in 2017 by the IMIBIC and the best congress communications by the Spanish Society of Nephrology in 2014, 2019 and 2022. I have collaborated with the pharmaceutical industry (Amgen Inc. projects #5870803 and #10098347) and participated in 8 national projects (6 supported by the Carlos III Health Institute and 2 by the Spanish Society of Nephrology) and 2 regional projects. In 2021, I obtained funding from the Spanish Society of Nephrology to implement the project #3317 entitled “Role of the PTEN phosphatase in the development of bone alterations associated with Chronic Kidney Disease and the regulation of the FGF23 and sclerostin production by osteocytes” as principal investigator.
In addition, I partook in the training of undergraduate students and was part of the operational team of the IMIBICP2Med program (Horizon 2020 MSCA-Cofund GA: 847468). I also have participated as invited speaker in international meeting, e.g. The Joint meeting of the Japanese Society of Nephrology and European Renal Association at Copenhagen in 2018. I am a member of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, the Spanish Society of Bone Research and Mineral Metabolism, and the European Society of Nephrology. Furthermore, I also have collaborated as journal reviewer and guest editor with relevant scientific journal (reviewer: Acta Biomaterialia, Nefrología; Guest editor: Frontiers in Physiology, International Journal of Molecular Science). Currently, I collaborate with relevant national and international researchers (Dr. Manuel Tena Sempere, Dr. João Frazão among others).