TEAM

I have a degree in medicine and a doctorate from the University of Zaragoza. I participated in the GMM since the beginning, working on molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis. We have use the different genotyping methods that have been developed over time, from the most classical, to genomic sequencing, which gives me the know how to interpret the results and also genotype other microorganisms.

During my doctorate, I did two research stays at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Later I obtained a training researcher contract “Miguel Servet” call for the IS Carlos III at the U. Miguel Servet Hospital. Finally, in 2008, I was stabilized as a researcher at the Aragonese Institute of Health Sciences. Since then I coordinate the line of the molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis. Throughout this time, I have coordinated and participated in different international networks, and I have been an operational point of contact (OCP) for the ECDC as an expert in mycobacterial genotyping. I supervised five doctoral theses and published more than 80 articles in indexed journals, my h-index is 29.

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My research began on antibiotic resistance in the University of Zaragoza, where I carried out the doctoral thesis on “Genetic and biochemical characteristics of beta-lactamases from enterobacteria”. I have carried out postdoctoral stays at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, at the Microbial Genetics Unit to work on resistance to antibiotics in enterobacteria. At the Mycobacterial Genetics Unit, I worked on the usefulness of the insertion sequence IS6110 in the typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. During the stay in 1992, I worked on transposition mutagenesis in the fast-growing species M. smegmatis. The works of the last years have had as main objective the study of the insertion sequence IS6110 in different clinical isolates of great importance from the epidemiological point of view, as well as in strains of Mycobacterium bovis of human origin, transmitted from cattle. These studies have also focused on the consequences of inserting this transposon into different genes.

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Profesora Titula de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública

Conocer como funciona el cuerpo humano y por qué algunas personas enferman y otras no, siempre me resultó apasionante. Por ello inicié mis estudios de Medicina en la Universidad de Santiago, que finalicé en Zaragoza y, tras un período dedicado a lo asistencial, me llevó a formarme en Salud Pública en la Universidad Libre de Bruselas. Trabajé dos años en Administración y Servicios Sanitarios, como Técnico de Salud Pública en el Insalud de Vigo, lo que me permitió conocer, como funciona nuestro sistema sanitario pero, aún muy poco, sobre los factores que influyen en la distribución de las enfermedades. Busqué ampliar mi formación en epidemiología, esta vez en París, dónde viví 3 años y dónde trabajé en el Hospital Paul Brousse, Villejuif (Francia) primero con una beca del Ministerio de Sanidad español y más tarde, con un puesto de investigador del Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) lo que me permitió estudiar la relación entre medioambiente y cáncer. Al regresar a España realicé mi tesis doctoral en el Departamento de Microbiología y Medicina Preventiva de la Universidad de Zaragoza dónde, actualmente, soy profesora Titular de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública. Este puesto me permite compatibilizar dos de mis pasiones, la docencia y la investigación. Siento gran satisfacción cuando puedo ayudar a las personas. Me gusta dar clase, la educación, colaborar con los estudiantes y, también, pienso que en salud global hay muchos problemas acuciantes en los que tenemos la oportunidad de colaborar. Mi campo de investigación está centrado en la epidemiología molecular de la tuberculosis (TB). En colaboración con Salud Pública del Gobierno de Aragón, estudiamos desde el año 1993, la epidemiología de la TB en Aragón y de la tuberculosis multirresistente en España, en colaboración con el Instituto de Salud Carlos III y el European Center Disease Control (ECDC).
Actualmente tengo 3 sexenios de investigación y 4 quinquenios de docencia.

Contacto / ORCID

In 2016 I finished my degree in Biotechnology at the University of Zaragoza and I moved to Madrid to do a master’s degree in Virology at the Complutense University. There, I did my Master’s Thesis working with the African Swine Fever Virus at the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria. In 2018 I received a grant from the Government of Aragon for a predoctoral contract at the Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud, where I joined the Molecular Epidemiology of Tuberculosis line, directed by Dr. Sofía Samper, and belonging to the Genetics group of Mycobacteria.

I have a degree in Nursing from the University of Zaragoza. I started working in 2000 with population studies in the Aragon Cancer registry. After that, I participated in the Epidemiological Network for the study of Rare Diseases, RePIER, in the Aragon node. Since 2004 I collaborate with the Mycobacterial Genetics group at the University of Zaragoza, in its branch of molecular epidemiology; and my main function, among others, is to control, purify and obtain the relevant epidemiological information of each case diagnosed by the reference laboratories. I have combined all this since 2002 with my work as a care and management nurse at the Miguel Servet University Hospital.

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PhD Student

I am a Medicine graduate at the University of Valencia and currently Pulmonology resident doctor at the Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa in Zaragoza. I have recently started working on my  PhD thesis. on molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis