The ICREAs

ICREA Research Professors form a vibrant community of scientists and researchers in all areas of knowledge that contribute to the advancement of humankind by exploring, interpreting and questioning. Have a look and learn about their amazing discoveries and findings here:

Search

  • CLOSE
    Salvador Soto Faraco
    Soto-Faraco, Salvador
    Research Professor at
    Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)
    Social & Behavioural Sciences
    view profile

    Research interests

    I am interested in multisensory perception and attention in humans. Like many other animals, humans are endowed with a wide range of sensory capacities such as hearing, feeling, seeing, smelling and so on. This rich variety of senses allows our brains to represent the surrounding environment with fidelity and precision, so that we can parse information, maintain it as memories, make decisions, and plan and carry out actions. However, to achieve coherent mental representations our brains must coordinate the distinct sources of sensory information effectively across their different temporal scales, spatial frames of reference, and representational formats. I am interested in the neural and behavioural principles underlying the selection, integration and representation of such multisensory information. To achieve this, I use experimental approaches based on psychophysics, a variety of neuroimaging methods to measure neural activity (EEG, fMRI), and brain stimulation techniques (TMS).

    Key words

    Cognitive Neuroscience; Psychology; Attention; Perception; Multisensory Integration; Speech Perception; Touch; Vision; Audition; Body Representation

    ORCID

    : 0000-0002-4799-3762

    RESEARCHER ID

    : B-8400-2011
  • CLOSE
    Laura Soucek
    Soucek, Laura
    Research Professor at
    Vall d'Hebron Institut d'Oncologia (VHIO)
    Life & Medical Sciences
    view profile

    Research interests

    Our focus is the Myc oncoprotein, whose deregulation is implicated in almost all human cancer types. We have designed a Myc dominant negative, Omomyc, to investigate the therapeutic benefit of inhibiting Myc in cancer. We demonstrated that Myc inhibition has a remarkable therapeutic index in many mouse models of cancer, while only causing mild and reversible side effects in normal tissues. We also showed that Myc is a safe pharmacological target for many, perhaps all, cancers. Our goal is now to push such a therapeutic approach further towards the clinic. To do so we are making use of a new generation of Myc inhibitory cell-penetrating miniproteins. Our first compound, OMO-103, successfully completed Phase I clinical trial in 2022. These innovative treatments could boost our therapeutic arsenal against the majority of human cancers.

    Key words

    cancer, myc, oncogene, molecular therapeutic, metastasis, miniproteins

    ORCID

    : orcid.org/0000-0002-4750-7971

    RESEARCHER ID

    : AAG-8377-2019
  • CLOSE
    Kestutis Staliunas
    Staliunas, Kestutis
    Research Professor at
    Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
    Engineering Sciences
    view profile

    Research interests

    Spatial quality of laser beams is of high importance in technologies: good quality beams propagate better collimated, can be more tight focused. Not all lasers, however, produce good beams: the radiation of especially very important semiconductor microlasers, microchip lasers,VCELSs, are too random and divergent. We develop new physical concepts and new techniques to manipulate the spatial structure of radiation, by using micro-modulated photonic materials: photonic crystals, metamaterials, Non-Hermitian optical materials. We develop these novel light-manipulation techniques in fundamental level and implement them in photonic industry. Also the good quality beams of microwaves, sound waves, or matter waves are required. We apply our experience in "smart manipulation of light patterns" to the other types of waves, to produce "clean" and well directed sound beams by so called "sonic crystals" in acoustics, as well as "clean" matter wave ensembles in modulated Bose condensates.

    Key words

    Lasers, Photonic Crystals, Nonlinear Optics, Metamaterials and metasurfaces, Non-Hermitian Optics.

    ORCID

    : 0000-0002-0539-9538

    RESEARCHER ID

    : E-8582-2014
  • CLOSE
    Massimo Stengel
    Stengel, Massimiliano
    Research Professor at
    Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (CSIC - ICMAB)
    Experimental Sciences & Mathematics
    view profile

    Research interests

    My research develops and uses frontier electronic-structure methods to tackle key fundamental and technological questions in ferroelectricity, magnetism, surface science and metal/oxide interfaces. In the past few years I have focused on perovskite thin films, and in particular on understanding how the reduced size affects their functional properties. I am currently interested in the study of novel functionalities in oxide-based systems (e.g. flexoelectricity, magnetoelectric effects, confined electron gases, improper ferroelectricity) and in development of accurate modeling strategies to bridge the gap between the microscopic and macroscopic worlds.

    Key words

    first-principles theory, ferroelectrics, magnetoelectrics, interfaces, thin films

    ORCID

    : 0000-0003-4175-3888

    RESEARCHER ID

    : E-2934-2010
  • CLOSE
    Thomas Sturm
    Sturm, Thomas
    Research Professor at
    Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
    Humanities
    view profile

    Research interests

    How is rationality understood in philosophy and the human sciences? How should it be understood? What is its function in various domains? These are the guiding questions for my research, which comprises topics reaching from early modern philosophy - esp. Immanuel Kant's philosophy - up to current discussions at the interface of philosophy, psychology, and the social sciences. I study aspects of reason in Kant's philosophy in relation to his notions of truth and the systematicity of science; I analyze the history as well as the potentials and limits of current psychological and philosophical theories of rationality; and I also study their role in politics, ethics, and education. I'm moreover interested in the philosophy of knowledge, mind, and science. Methodologically, I combine tools of analytic philosophy and history of science: I am unconvinced by widespread opinions according to which they cannot, or should not, be integrated.

    Key words

    Rationality, Immanuel Kant, Philosophy of Mind & Psychology, Philosophy & History of Science

    ORCID

    : 0000-0001-5698-3542

    RESEARCHER ID

    : C-6548-2015
  • CLOSE
    Hans Supèr
    Supèr, Hans
    Research Professor at
    Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
    Life & Medical Sciences
    view profile

    Research interests

    My interest is studying the cognitive brain, To get a grasp of its immense complexity, I studied the development of the cortex and the functional organization of the neocortex. Current research focuses on neural circuit dynamics using computer simulations and cognitive behavior with psychophysical experiments. We described novel roles for fixational eye movements in cognitive processing. These studies support the idea that vision is an active process, which can be trained to improve cognitive behavior. The exploitation of these findings is protected by patents, which are licensed. Currently, my research investigates 1) the neural mechanism and function of vergence/synchrony, 2) clinical applications of Cognitive Vergence and eye synchrony, and 3) interactive eye-tracking games to improve cognitive behavior.

    Key words

    Cognition, Cortical Circuitry, Computational Modeling, Figure-ground Perception, System Neurophysiology, Visual Cortex

    ORCID

    : 0000-0001-9328-0096

    RESEARCHER ID

    : L-3324-2014