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 in A-P axis re-establishment during 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.

Captura de pantalla 2019-04-07 a les 18.

Anamaria Elek

Senior Bioinformatician

I got my master thesis from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, working on codon usage in metagenomics. Before starting a PhD, I worked as a bioinformatician in the sequencing facility at the Institute of Cancer Reserach in London, UK. I received my PhD in 2024, studying the regulatory logic - primarily TF binding - in the evolution of cell types in non-bilaterian animals. Currently, I am working on data analysis and pipeline development for the Biodiversity Cell Atlas.

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.

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

Cristina Navarrete

FPI PhD student

As a master student, I investigated the mechanisms of RNA toxicity in Huntington’s disease at CRG (Spain). Then, I worked as a research assistant in the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (Poland), focusing on RNA editing in early development and heart regeneration in zebrafish. Since 2020, I am back in CRG, where I investigate the evolution of eukaryotic chromatin using comparative proteomics and genomics approaches.

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.

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.

Former lab members

Shani Levy. Postdoc.

Simón Menéndez-Bravo. Lab manager.

Sergi Muyo. Master student (UB).

Monica Varona. Master student (UAB)

Lucia Troiani. Summer intern.

Evolution of Cell Type Regulation