Peter Joined MIPMED after completing his Master thesis in Biotechnology focusing on strain engineering of yeast for production of therapeutic peptides. In the group Peter helped with day-to-day management of the lab as well as supporting resaerchers and students with their experiments.

Peter finished his stay in April 2026.

David completed his PhD in Bioengineering in 2023 while working in the group of Dr. Filippo Menolascina at the University of Edinburgh. During this time, he studied the use of mathematical modeling to describe biological systems, particularly synthetic ones, with the goal of better predicting and (re)engineering them. His research focused on easing the problems of parameter inference and model selection by leveraging the field of optimal experimental design to maximize the informative content of experimental data. Prior to this, David completed his MSc in Systems and Synthetic Biology at the University of Edinburgh after obtaining his BSc in Microbiology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

In 2023, David joined the MIPMED team to provide his interdisciplinary expertise in the study of liver-related diseases such as Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) for personalized medicine using non-invasive hyperpolarized nuclear magnetic resonance (HP_MR) methods.

David Finished his stay in April 2026

Pablo is currently studying a CFGS of the Clinical and Biomedical Laboratory at Jesuïtes El Clot. He joined the team in September 2022 in order to carry out his internship where he will help develop the different projects underway at Mipmed.

Pablo finished his stay in March 2023.

Jose obtained his BSc degree in Electronic Engineering at Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 2006. He then started an industry career in the medical sector where he was involved in the design of multiple medical products as a part of a R&D team. In 2011, he transitioned from industry to academia and joined the group of Dr. Rosa Villa at Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona as a research assistant. He received his MSc degree in Micro and Nanoelectronic Engineering in 2012 and his PhD in Electrical and Telecommunication Engineering in 2018 at Autonomous University of Barcelona. He joined the team in 2020 to work on the European BLOC project. His research focuses on the development of organ-on-a-chip technologies, and he has accumulated skills in nano- and micro-technologies, fabrication of microphysiological systems, and microfluidics. He is particularly experienced in microfabrication.

Jose received a Marie Curie fellowship and is currently continuing his research at another prestigious institution.

Oscar studied Pharmacy at the IQS School of Engineering and the Health Sciences School Blanquerna (Ramoón Llull University). In 2020 he joined our team to work on his BSc thesis and learn about biomaterials used for 3D cell cultures.

Oscar graduated from IQS and is now pursuing a masters degree.

Alba studied BSc Nanocience and Nanotechnology in Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB). In 2021 she joined our team to work on her thesis and learn about tissue engineering techniques used for 3D cell cultures.  

Alba graduated from UAB and is now pursuing a masters degree.

Andrea is currently studying a BSc in Biomedical Engineering at Universitat Roviri i Virgili (URV). She joined the team in 2021 for a summer internship to learn about untargeted metabolomic NMR data analysis and the field of biomaterials.

Andrea finished her stay and will graduate soon from URV.

Aleix is currently a BSc Mathematics student at the University of Barcelona (UB) with a specialization in Statistics. He joined MIPMED in October 2021 to complete his practicum hours while working on NMR data acquisition, processing, and interpretation; and to learn about NMR techniques and biosystems for metabolic studies.

Aleix finished his stay and will soon graduate from UB and move on to study a masters degree abroad.

Farris holds a BSc in Biology (Georgian Court University, 2018) and a MSc in Biotechnology (College of Staten Island, 2020). After spending two years at the University of Pennsylvania in Dr. Carl June’s laboratory studying CAR T-cell therapy she has joined the MIPMED team in 2022 as a Laboratory Technician. With her background, she will assist in the biological models used to study metabolomic pathologies through non-invasive metabolomic imaging techniques.

Maria is currently studying a BSc in Chemistry at University of Barcelona (UB). She joined the team in February 2022 to carry out her curricular internships where she will help develop a platform to carry out parahydrogen polarization (PHIP), she will also aid in the adaptation of biological systems for NMR applications in a desktop spectrometer. After her internship, Maria continued her project to develop her BSc thesis on the optimization and adaptation of PHIP reactions to biomedical applications.

Marc holds a BSc in Chemistry (Autonomous University of Barcelona, 2017), an Official Master’s degree in Industrial Chemistry and Introduction to Chemical Research (Autonomous University of Barcelona, 2018) and a Master’s degree in Fine Chemistry (Esteve S.A and Autonomous University of Barcelona, 2019). In 2020 he started his PhD under Irene’s supervision with funding from the European BLOC project. Throughout his training, he has had hands-on experience with metabolomic techniques such as NMR and mass spectrometry. He is also co-author of the sci-blog “Momentos Magnéticos” (“Magnetic Moments“).

Alba holds a BSc in Biochemistry (Georgian Court University, 2019) and an MSc in Biotechnology (College of Staten Island, 2020). In 2020 she joined IBEC and the BLOC project as a Research Assistant, and in 2021 she started her Ph.D. studies under Irene’s supervision with a FI AGAUR fellowship. Through her training, she has hands-on experience in analytical chemistry and instrumentation as well as cell culturing and microscopy. Her background and previous research experience in multidisciplinary fields is an asset in the team. She is working on the biological models needed to study metabolomic pathologies in human disease through MR imaging and spectroscopy.

Margarita earned her PhD in May 2021 from the Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at the University of Jyvaskyla, where she was supervised by Professor Matti Haukka. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Organic Chemistry and a Specialist Degree in Physical Chemistry. With experience in both academia (at the University of Jyvaskyla and Saint Petersburg State University) and industry (at Reaxys and ChimTech), Margarita has a diverse skill set that includes inorganic and organic synthesis, crystal engineering, various characterization techniques, and molecular modeling.

Throughout her career, Margarita has transitioned from an inorganic chemistry background to focus on biology and medicine-related fields. She recently joined MIPMED in January 2023 to work on hyperpolarized NMR methods and noninvasive MR-based metabolic imaging.

In her free time, Margarita enjoys pursuing her hobbies of photography, blogging, and hiking.

Adriana studied Biology in her home country, Venezuela and later she moved to Germany where she got a Master of Sciences in Molecular, Cellular and Neurobiology and later a PhD in Natural Sciences at the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel. During this time, she was working on the functional and biochemical characterization of Alzheimer´s disease-related proteins using cellular and mouse models. Later, she got a Marie Curie to join the lab of Dr. Michael Krieg at the Institute of Photonic Sciences to pursue her first postdoc working on the development of new bioluminescence imaging techniques and in a new photon-based system to address intercellular communication. At the MIPMED team, she will bring expertise in biological and biochemical methods and work on the determination of possible biomarkers for muscular dystrophy 1 (DM1) using organ-on-a-chip (OOC) devices.

Alejandro brought a lot of expertise regarding chip design, micofabrication and organ-on-a-chip assembly and integration to our MIPMED team, teaching students and helping fellow researchers. He left the team in 2022 to pursue other interesting oppotunities.

James studied Chemistry at the University of Southampton from 2011 to 2015, completing his Master’s research at the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Prof. Alex Pines and Prof. Dmitry Budker, where he investigated molecular parity violation using optically polarized xenon.

He returned to Southampton to pursue a PhD in Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Malcolm Levitt, focusing on hyperpolarization techniques and microfluidic NMR. In 2018, he joined Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Matter-AntiMatter section of the Helmholtz Institute, where he developed zero- and ultralow-field NMR methods.
In 2021, he moved to the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona on a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship, developing noninvasive metabolic imaging techniques in organ-on-a-chip devices for personalized medicine. Following a six-month stay at NVision Imaging Technologies in Ulm, he went on to establish the Hyperpolarization Methods Lab at Forschungszentrum Jülich.

Eduard is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). He had previously studied a BSc in Physics with a Minor in Fundamental Physics at the University of Barcelona.

Despite his strong theoretical foundation, he shifted his focus towards a more practical field during his studies, with medical physics and medical imaging becoming his primary areas of interest. He also gained valuable experimental experience in diverse fields such as astrophysics, material science and biochemistry through his participation in the ‘Youth and Science’ grant.

He joined the team for his Master’s thesis project, followed by Irene Marco-Rius and Gergő Matajsz. Under their supervision, he worked on the FLASHonCHIP project evaluating the effects of FLASH radiotherapy on in-ovo models using HP-MRI.

Eduard left the group in 2025 to pursue other interesting projects.

Silvia joined the group to do her Master thesis project which was focused on creation of an in-vitro model of Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 disease, a complex neuromuscular disorder, using cutting-edge genetic and cellular technologies. More specifically Silvia’s work aimed to identify biomarkers associated with the disease by analyzing the pyruvate to lactate pathway, leveraging MRI technologies.

Isabel is pursued a Master’s degree in Biomedicine at the University of Barcelona (UB), following her completion of a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). She was deeply involved in her master’s thesis project, collaborating closely with Lluís Mangas and the team. Her research was centered on investigating the metabolism of 2D and 3D cell cultures as well as zebrafish models, utilizing hyperpolarized magnetic resonance imaging techniques.

With a strong foundation in both technical and biomedical fields, Isabel was committed to advancing knowledge at the intersection of technology and biology. She aspired to contribute meaningfully to the team’s efforts in understanding metabolic processes and their implications in health and disease.

Isabel left the group in 2024 for other exciting opportunities.