UAB Experts Guide for journalists

Esther Udina Bonet

She is MD and has a PhD in Neurosciencies, and currently is titular professor of Medical Physiology, in the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. At the educational level, it teaches mainly neurophysiology in Medical and Physiotherapy degrees and in postgraduate courses. At the research level, she has focused her interests on studying strategies to improve nerve regeneration and functional recovery after peripheral nerve injuries, especially in animal models. She is also studying the plastic changes of the nervous system after injuries and how these could be modulated by physical activity.

Keywords: neurophysiology, nerve regeneration, neuroplasticity, spinal motoneuron, primary sensory neuron, functional recovery, peripheral nerve, nerve lesion

Francisco Valero Barranco

He is an expert on bioprocess engineering and applied biocatalysis, white or industrial biotechnology, recombinant protein production, enzymes and their applications, and biodiesel.

Keywords: biotechnology, Pichia pastoris, biochemical engineering, recombinant protein production, applied biocatalysis, bioproceses

Manuel Valiente Malmagro

Expert on spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques for chemical analysis; chemical speciation (direct and indirect methodologies); applications in the fields of health (dental materials, urologic lithiasis and anticarcinogenic compounds), environment (characterization and treatment of contaminated systems, soils, waters and wastes, development of adsorbent materials and ecological processes "reagentless") and agro-food (functional foods, food traceability and vegetal biofortification).

Keywords: analytical techniques, chemical speciation, dental materials, urologic lithiasis, cytostatics, polluted systems, adsorbant material, functional foods, traceability, vegetal bio-fortification

Anna Valli Casado

Chief Marketing Officer y Chief Executive Officer -tech startups. Account Director in Advertising, Comms and Media agencies.

Keywords: strategic planning, innovation, technology, advertising, marketing, startups, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, digital comms, entrepreneurial projects, interdisciplinary research

Jordi Vallverdú Segura

Jordi Vallverdú is expert on cognitive sciences (emotions) and philosophy of science and computing, specialized on human-chine interactions, and the challenges of contemporary sciences. He has also worked on the history of Western/Eastern Philosophies, statistical thinking, bioart, and bioethics.

Keywords: cognition, emotions, science, machines, robots, statistics, ethics, epistemology.

Ángeles Vázquez Castro

She is an expert in space communications: design, optimization and analysis. She is also an expert on coding for protocols of security over radiofrequency and optical channels.

Keywords: communications, space, security

Joan Miquel Verd i Pericàs

His publications and research activity revolve around the sociology of labour and research methods. In the first of these fields his research has focused on: the relationship between training, competencies and employment; the relationships between employment and social protection; the labour market trajectories of the young people; and the use of social capital in the labour market. Methodologically, his interests are focused on: social network analysis; mixed methods research and designs; text and discourse analysis; longitudinal, narrative and biographical analyses; and computer assisted qualitative data analysis.

Keywords: sociology of labour, youth, labour market trajectories, research methods, social network analysis, social protection

Joaquim Vergés Jaime

He is an expert in privatisation of public owned enterprises.He has published several works on the topic, both at the Spain's and international level. Regional fiscal balances in Spain and Catalonia's fiscal balances. He has several published works on productivity, efficiency and economic growth: indicators and applications.

Keywords:  privatisations, productivity measurements, regional fiscal balances

Neus Vidal Barrantes

Her work is about the nature and origins of mental disorders, in particular psychosis. Her work focuses on the role of psychosocial risk factors, such as childhood trauma, in increasing the risk for adult mental disorders, and what psychological mechanisms mediate this risk pathway. Also, her team works with mobile technologies to map dynamic mental processes and the person-context interplay in real life.She also has expertise in early detection and preventive intervention in youngsters at high risk for psychosis.

Keywords: mental disorders, psychosis, schizophrenia, early detection, early intervention, prevention, psychosocial factors, trauma, mobile technologies, psychological mechanisms, clinical psychology

Fernando Vilariño

Assoc. Director at the Computer Vision Centre. He gives lectures about Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Multimedia Systems, and Open Innovation. His research has been linked to different areas of Artificial Intelligence, particularly Computer Vision. His work is published in the main journals and conferences and he has also contributed to a number of patents.He is the President of the European Network of Living Labs ENoLL, co-funder of the Library Living Lab. He is interested in socio-economic transformation arising from human-centric processes involving multiple stakeholders and Social Digital Innovation.

Keywords: computer vision, artificial intelligence, living lab, open innovation, social digital innovation, smart cities, libraries

Xavier Villalba Nicolás

He is an outstanding researcher in the field of theoretical linguistics, in particular in the interface between syntax and information structure in Catalan and the Romance languages. He is an expert in the study of dislocations, exclamative sentences and sentence periphery, topics on which he has published in indexed journals and in collective works of reference.

Keywords: syntax, information structure, dislocations, exclamative sentences, interfaces

Sandra Villegas Hernández

Leader of the "Protein Design and Immunotherapy" group, she designs therapeutic proteins for Alzheimer's disease, although she also has experience in other conformational diseases, such as systemic amyloidosis and arteriosclerosis. Her expertise covers from the design of proteins to the analysis in animal models.

Keywords: Alzheimer's, amyloids, immunotherapy, scFv, Abeta, tau, 3xTg-AD, astroglia, microglia, histology, MRI, CD, FTIR, TEM, DLS