I'm a bioengineer with a keen interest in the soft matter and biological physics. I lead a research group whose activities sit between applied and fundamental research and merge physical and life science intimately. Our long-term goal is to design novel strategies for the engineering of bionic units capable of navigating the human body and deliver either therapeutic agents or diagnostic probes precisely.  We apply a constructionist approach where we mimic biological complexity in the form of design principles to produce functional units from simple building blocks and their interactions. Such an approach, we christened as Molecular Bionics, allows us to both replicate biological complexity to create model surrogates as well as to engineer novel carriers to deliver of anticancer drugs, antibiotics, genes, proteins and diagnostic probes. We achieve both objectives developing experimental and theoretical methods to probe biological complexity and the material/cell interface. We are very active in novel experimental techniques such as molecular engineering, liquid phase electron microscopy and ultrafast imaging as well as very keen to apply both computational modelling and theoretical statistical physics to support our experiments. 

Mark Gieles is interested in the formation and evolution of the Milky Way galaxy, and in particular its dark components, such as the black hole population and the dark matter. In particular, he studies the dynamics of dense stellar systems, using numerical and theoretical approaches, as well as state-of-the-art astronomical observations from space and ground based observatories. The goal of this research is to probe where the black holes and dark matter are in the Milky Way Galaxy in the present and past, providing input for our understanding of gravitational wave observations and the nature of dark matter.

Iñaki's research is focused on deciphering the dynamic epigenomic architecture of normal cell differentiation and neoplastic transformation, with particular emphasis on the study of B cells. Using both wet-lab and computational approaches, he aims at understanding the molecular basis of gene deregulation in cancer through the analysis of genetic alterations, DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin accessibility and 3D chromatin structure. This integrative approach not only provides new insights into the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying neoplastic transformation but shall also be translated into a benefit for patients in terms of improved diagnosis, estimation of prognosis and treatment.

Prof. Penta is an economic theorist with research interests in game theory, mechanism design and bounded rationality.  His current research, for which he obtained a 2017-ERC Starting grant, focuses on behavioral models of individuals' reasoning processes in strategic situations, on problems of model misspecifications in game theory, and on the impact of Digital Marketing Agencies on the auction formats most commoly used to sell online advertisement space.