MSCA-IF: Joint application at the University of Granada. Department of Genetics

Professor Francisco David Carmona López, from the Department of Genetics at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF) in 2019 at this University. Please note that applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (more information: http://sl.ugr.es/09Qg).

Brief description of the institution:

The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. It serves more than 60000 students per year, including many foreign students, as UGR is the leader host institution in the Erasmus program. UGR, featuring 3650 professors and more than 2000 auxiliary personnel, offers a total of 75 degrees through its 112 departments and 28 centers.

UGR is also a leading institution in research, located in the top 5/10 of Spanish universities by a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, or international funding. UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking (http://www.arwu.org/), and it is also well recognized for its web presence (http://www.4icu.org/top200/).

Internationally, we bet decidedly by our participation in the calls of H2020, both at partner and coordination. For the duration of the Seventh Framework Programme, the UGR has obtained a total of 66 projects, with total funding of 17.97 million euros, and for H2020, until 2015, more than 25 projects with total funding of more than 6 million euros. Our more than 3,000 researchers are grouped into 365 research groups covering all scientific fields and disciplines.

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group

The reserach group BIO109 (id# of the Andalusian Government Research Agency) is composed by the following members of the University of Granada: Dr. Rafael Jiménez (full professor and principal investigator), Dr. Miguel Burgos (full professor), Dr. Manuel A. Garrido (full professor), Dr. Francisco J. Barrionuevo (associate professor), Dr. Federico Zurita (associate professor), Dr. Inmaculada López-Flores (associate professor), Dr. Rogelio J. Palomino (associate professor), and Dr. Francisco D. Carmona (Ramon y Cajal program researcher). This group has produced a total of 372 original research articles, including reviews, 32 books and book chapters, and 24 doctoral theses.

Most research articles were published in prestigious journals including Nature Genetics, Trends in Genetics, eLife, Development, Developmental Biology, Bioessays, Journal of Experimental Zoology, BMC Biology, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Scientific Reports, Human Molecular Genetics, and American Journal of Human Genetics, amongst others.

We are currently involved in the following research topics:

• Role of miRNAs in mammalian sex determination 

• Genetic control of seasonal testis regression in wild mammals

• Role of Sox9 in mammalian tissue/organ homeostasis and regeneration (nail and cornea)

• Genome and transcriptome level study of the aetiology of human non-obstructive azoospermia

Project description

Male infertility is a major health concern in today's developed societies, as it affects 15% of couples of childbearing age. One of the most common and the most severe manifestation of male infertility is the non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), which involves 10% of infertile men. This disease is characterized by the inability of the testis to produce sperm, and it is considered to be primarily associated with genetic factors. Complex diseases like NOA have a multifactorial aetiology that involves genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. The main objective of our research line is to evaluate the molecular causes of NOA by conducting genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic studies. We aim to develop of potential biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of the real possibilities of NOA patients to father a biological child through assisted reproductive techniques. In particular, we are interested in investigating the possible relationship of the associated molecular markers with the probability of sperm retrieval through testicular sperm extraction (TESE), the cumulative probability of pregnancy per cycle of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and the live birth rate of these patients.

Our project received funding from the Spanish Government through the ‘Plan Nacional’ grant SAF2016-78722-R (from 2017 to 2021) and is being developed in collaboration with ‘IVI-RMA’, the largest assisted reproduction group in the world (https://ivi-fertility.com/), as well as different researchers and clinicians from both national centres (University of Granada, Hospital ‘La Fé’ from Valencia, Hospital ‘Virgen de las Nieves’ from Granada, ‘Complejo Hospitalario’ from Jaén, and IDIBELL from Barcelona) as well as international centres (IPATIMUP ‘Institute of Pathology and Molecular Immunology’ of the University of Porto, ‘Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute’ of Cambridge, and the University of Manchester).

We are confident that our research will imply a clear socio-economic impact that could benefit thousands of couples that are unable to conceive due to male infertility issues, thus helping to address one of the major challenges of the society.

Research Area

Life Sciences (LIFE)

For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor Francisco David Carmona López (dcarmona@ugr.es):

• CV
• Letter of recommendation (optional)