I did my PhD under the supervision of Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo at University of Barcelona (Spain), investigating the origin of animal multicellularity from a functional genomics perspective. Then, I spent four years at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), working with Amos Tanay on single-cell genomics of animal cell type diversity. Since 2019, I am a Group Leader at the CRG and, since 2024 I am also Associate Faculty at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

Arnau Sebé-Pedrós

Group Leader

Marta Iglesias

Postdoctoral fellow

In 2016, I obtained my PhD studying Wnt pathway planarian regeneration (University of Barcelona). Then I studied how starvation and mTOR signalling regulates planarian adult stem cells in the Leibniz Institute on Aging (Germany). After this I moved to the Sars Institute (Norway), investigating neural progenitor diversity in Nematostella vectensis. I joined the lab in 2019 to study developmental dynamics of cnidarian cell type programs.

xavier-grau-bovc3a9-hr_sq_centrat_edited

Xavier Grau-Bové

LaCaixa Postdoctoral Junior Leader fellow

I obtained my PhD from the University of Barcelona in 2017, under the supervision of Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo, investigating the origin of multicellularity in animals. In the past, I worked with David Weetman at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, studying the evolution of insecticide resistance adaptations in Anopheles mosquitoes. Since 2020, I am at the CRG, working on comparative single-cell genomics.

Iana Kim

Postdoctoral fellow

I received my PhD from the University of Bayreuth (Germany) under the supervision of Dr. Claus Kuhn. There, I studied the piRNA pathway in planarian flatworms and its role in post-transcriptional regulation in adult stem cells. In 2020, I joined the Sebé-Pedrós Lab to explore the organization of chromatin architecture in non-bilaterian animals by combining methods of epigenomics and computational biology.

Sean Montgomery

EMBO/Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral fellow

I received my PhD in 2022 studying chromatin dynamics during the life cycle of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, under the supervision of Dr. Frédéric Berger (Gregor Mendel Institute). I joined the lab in 2022 to investigate the composition and function of heterochromatin across the eukaryotic tree of life using proteomics and synthetic biology.

John Chamberlin

Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral fellow (with Irimia lab)

I am a bioinformatician with a background in microbiology, statistics, and toxicology, but am currently interested in the interplay between RNA biology and genome evolution. I completed my PhD in 2024 at the University of Utah, where I focused on technical aspects of single-cell RNA-seq analysis. In the Sebe-Pedros & Irimia Labs, I am using comparative approaches to study the evolution and regulation of transcriptional processing mechanisms.

Ewa Księżopolska

Lab manager

I did my PhD in the Comparative Genomics lab at the IRB/BSC in Barcelona, where I studied genomic changes driving the acquisition of antifungal drug resistance in an opportunistic pathogenic yeast. I joined the lab in November 2023 as a Lab Manager, assisting in various projects and ensuring smooth and excellent research.

Dídac Cañas Armenteros

Animal and protist culture technician

Grygoriy Zolotarov

LaCaixa INPhINIT PhD student

I am a medical doctor with a passion for evolutionary biology. During my M.D. studies, I have been investigating the lncRNAs in planarian regeneration at Tel Aviv University, Nematostella neurogenesis at CRG, and RNA biology of enigmatic octopuses at BIMSB (Berlin). In 2021, I am joining Sebe-Pedros lab to dive into gene regulatory network evolution and to understand basic principles by which cell-type programs evolve.

FPI PhD student

Laia Montes

I am a biologist genetics-focused, graduated at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). During my master's degree, I joined Sebe-Pedrós lab to study cell type specific gene expression in ctenophores. In my PhD, I am developing and applying single-cell genomics approaches to study the evolution of cell types and gene expression in non-bilaterian animals.

Paulina Spurk

LaCaixa INPhINIT PhD student

I obtained my master’s degree from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany in the group of Wolfgang Enard and Ines Hellmann, working on gene expression evolution in non-human primates, using Nanopore cDNA sequencing and single cell ATAC-seq on primate embryoid bodies. In 2022, I joined the Sebe-Pedros lab where I use scATAC-seq and lineage tracing in metazoans to study cell type evolution.

Anastasiia Kashtanova

FPI PhD student

I completed my Master’s degree at the Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics at MSU in Moscow. During this time, I focused on studying the structure of chromatin across different species and how it has evolved. In 2025, I joined the Sebé-Pedrós lab to investigate chromatin 3D organisation in non-bilaterian animals and its dynamics during development.

Ava True

PhD student

I did my Master’s at the Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge with Renske Vroomans and Sandro Colizzi. There, I used computational models to investigate the origins of animal multicellularity. In 2025, I joined the Sebé-Pedrós, where I will use single-cell transcriptomics and population genomics in Nematostella to study the evolution of cell types.

Biodiversity Cell Atlas team

Nuno Saraiva Agostinho

BCA database team leader

I am a molecular biologist and computer scientist, passionate about crafting resources to support the scientific community on its journey to deepen our understanding of life. I completed my PhD at the University of Lisbon, where I developed Shiny apps for transcriptomic analysis and built a web server to host them. For 3 years, I was part of the EBI, improving software and online resources for genetic variants in Ensembl. Since October 2024, I am working in the database and web app of the BCA project.

Bonita Van Waardenburg

BCA bioinformatics developer

I obtained my Master's degree in Bioinformatics from Uppsala University, specializing in ML and Big Data. During my thesis at Karolinska Institutet, I developed a multi-tissue multi-omics integration method to identify biomarkers for neurodevelopmental disorders in a twin cohort, studying both genetic and environmental influences. I am responsible for developing Nextflow pipelines for the BCA project.

Sebastian Rodrigo Najle

BCA wetlab team leader

I obtained my PhD from the University of Rosario (Argentina), investigating the metabolism of sterols in protists from an evolutionary perspective. Then, I was a postdoc at Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo’s lab (Barcelona) studying the evolution of animal multicellularity. I joined the CRG in 2020 to study the evolution of animal cell type differentiation using different single-cell genomics approaches. I am currently leading the Biodiversity Cell Atlas experimental team.

Rachel Parker

BCA senior research technician

I received my PhD in 2024 from The Institute of Cancer Research in London. My thesis focused on exploring epigenetic mechanisms of drug resistance in colorectal cancer at the single-cell level. I joined the Sebe-Pedros lab in 2024 to benchmark, validate and develop single-cell technologies to investigate genomics and epigenomics in a range of model organisms in the context of the Biodiversity Cell Atlas project.

Léa Pimparé

BCA research technician

I obtained my M.Sc. in microbiology at the University of Montpellier, working on CRISPR constructs to treat phytopathogenic bacteria. Then, I worked on the ECO2THREATS project at the Institut Agro in Montpellier, studying the impact of atmospheric CO2 increase on plant nutrition and microbiome. In 2021 joined the IPS2 Paris Saclay Institute to develop plant transgenics methods. Since February 2024 I joined the lab to be part of the BCA project.

Jim Renema

BCA research technician

Driven by a passion for plant molecular mechanisms, I obtained my MSc at WUR. During my PhD at Ghent University in Prof. De Rybel’s lab, I established a new moss model species and applied single-cell technologies on bryophytes. In my postdoc with Prof. Pauwels, I identified candidate genes from single-cell data that improved maize transformation. Now, I’m excited to bring these experiences to the Biodiversity Cell Atlas team.

Lab Retreat 2025

Former lab members

Cristina Navarrete. PhD student. Postdoc at Vallot lab (Institute Curie, Paris)

Anamaria Elek. PhD student. Postdoc at Kaessman lab (ZMBH, Heidelberg)

Shani Levy. Postdoc. Lecturer at the University of Haifa

Simón Menéndez-Bravo. Lab manager. Fullstack Developer

Sergi Muyo. Master student (UB).

Monica Varona. Master student (UAB)

Lucia Troiani. Summer intern.

Evolution of Cell Type Regulation