2021

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Ethel Queralt Badia

Ethel Queralt Badia

http://www3.ibv.csic.es/index.php/es/investigacion/patologia/udc

ResearchID

ORCID

equeralt@ibv.csic.es

Affiliation: Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia (IBV-CSIC)

Fields or areas of research Study of the regulation of mitosis , Cornelia de Lange syndrome

Dr. Queralt graduated in Biochemistry from the Universitat of Valencia in 1998, where she also obtained her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry in 2003. During her PhD studies she acquired knowledge in molecular biology and genetics using yeast as a model organism. She was interested in the study of the regulation of the G1/S transition in the cell cycle. She presented her thesis work at several national and international conferences, and the results were published in high-ranking, international cell biology journals. One of these publications was recognized with the prestigious Innogenetics Diagnostics prize for the best nationally published thesis at the XXVII SEBBM Conference (Lleida, Spain; September 2004), an outstanding achievement in the environment. The undergraduate studies, and the doctoral training under the supervision of Dr. Juan Carlos Igual, provided her with a solid base for a career as an independent group leader in biomedical research. Dr. Queralt was the driving force behind the initiation of several original, high quality research projects. From 2003 to 2007, Queralt was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the London Research Insitute, Cancer Research UK where she studied others aspects of the cell cycle as genome stability and chromosome segregation. For her postdoctoral position she chose an internationally leading institution to carry out a cutting-edge project in Dr. Frank Uhlmann's laboratory. Dr. Uhlmann is an internationally recognised expert in the field of chromosome segregation. Through her postdoctoral work Dr. Queralt made seminal contributions to current understanding of genome inheritance and cohesin biology during mitotic cell division in budding yeast. This work also provided Dr. Queralt with experience in project management and research decisions crucial to becoming an independent group leader. In 2007, Dr. Queralt obtained a Reintegration Ramon y Cajal contract at Dra. Susana Rodriguez-Navarro´s laboratory in the Instituto de Investigación Príncipe Felipe, Valencia. Dra. Rodriguez-Navarro has made very important contributions to the current knowledge of the coupling between mRNA export and transcription in budding yeast In March 2008, Dr. Queralt was offered a junior group leader position in the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Program (PEBC) at IDIBELL. In 2012, she obtained the Accreditation Program I3 status and a tenure position at IDIBELL. Since January 2021, Dr Queralt is leader of the Cell Cycle Group at the Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia (IBV-CSIC) thanks to the funding of the Plan CIDEGENT. During the last 13 years Dr. Queralt established and consolidated her research group studying mainly two research lines: (1) Study the mitosis regulation and the cohesin biology in model organism, and (2) Study the cohesin role in rare diseases such as the Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) using mostly human fibroblasts derived from CdLS patients, where we apply the acquired knowledge from research line (1) into a human disease.

From 2008, Dr. Queralt had continuous funding from national (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and autonomic sources (Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR), Catalan Government). She has also been awarded funding from private companies (Fundación La MaratoTV3). Dr. Queralt has been invited in more than 15 institutes and Universities to give a seminar and also in the Spanish Association of Cornelia de Lange patients. She also participates in outreach activities giving talks in secondary schools and for the general public. Dr. Queralt has been able to transmit her eagerness for science to her team creating an internationally competitive and highly motivated lab, at the same time that creating a nice atmosphere among the labmembers which makes her confident to reach their goals in the future.