Lab Members
Ana Pardo-Saganta
Ana Pardo-Saganta, PhD – Principal Investigator, Ramon y Cajal Research Fellow
Ana earned her PhD in biomedical sciences at the Center for Applied Medical Research (Pamplona, Spain) in 2008 and moved to Boston to join the laboratory of Dr. Rajagopal at the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. During her postdoctoral training (2009-2014) she discovered a novel mechanism of cell regulation essential to keep tissue homeostasis (Pardo-Saganta et al, Nature 2015) and she demonstrated the segregation of the stem cell compartment during airway regeneration revealing the early commitment of airway stem cells into specific cell lineages of the airway epithelium immediately after injury (Pardo-Saganta et al, Cell Stem Cell 2015). In addition, she found that the Notch target gene HeyL is sufficient and necessary for mucous cell differentiation in allergic asthma (Pardo-Saganta et al, AJRCMB 2013, manuscript in preparation) and identified a novel cell type of the immune system that is essential for the initiation of an allergen-induced immune response (Kooistra TG et al, manuscript in preparation).
In 2014, Ana became Principal Investigator (Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School) and in 2016 she joined the Department of Regenerative Medicine of CIMA Universidad de Navarra (Pamplona, Spain) to establish her own laboratory after receiving the prestigious Ramon y Cajal Award. Her laboratory studies mechanisms involved in lung injury and tissue repair analyzing cellular interactions in homeostasis but especially in disease with a particular interest on asthma, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), COPD and COVID-19,with the ultimate goal of developing efficient therapies that combine strategies to block the pathological process while promoting the regeneration of the damaged tissue.
Paula Garcia-Olloqui
PhD – Postdoctoral Fellow
Laura Vera
Graduate Student
Laura was born in Madrid, where she finished her high school education and joined Complutense University of Madrid to pursue Master of Research in Biomedical Sciences in 2015 where she worked in the Microbiology Department in the Carlos III Health Institute. After an internship in Berlin, Laura joins the Department of Regenerative Medicine at CIMA Universidad de Navarra to initiate her PhD studies at the laboratory of Dr. Pardo-Saganta where she studies the role of lung stem cells on Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).
Zuriñe Blasco-Iturri
Graduate Student (Visitor)
Zuriñe grew up in the north of Spain and earned her B.S in Biochemistry from University of Navarra. After graduating, she carried out her Master thesis in the Cardiovascular Department of Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital (Barcelona). After this year, she started working as research technician during 2 years at a company dedicated to genetic diagnostic until she decides to start a PhD thesis motivated by her passion for science. Then, she joined the Molecular and Functional Biomarkers lab at CICBiomagune (San Sebastian, Spain) headed by Dr. Jesus Ruiz-Cabello. Her studies focus on pulmonary hypertension and to unravel the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved, she is learning the necessary models and techniques at the laboratory of Dr. Pardo-Saganta.
Borja Saez
PhD - Principal Investigator, AECC Research Fellow
Borja earned his PhD at the Department of Genetics at Universidad de Navarra in 2006 and moved to Boston to join as a postdoctoral fellow to the laboratory of Dr. David Scadden. During those years (2007-2011) at the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard University (HU) he acquired knowledge and experience in the field of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche in homeostasis and disease at the cellular, tissue and organism level. He published innumerable research articles in high impact journals (Nature, Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Developmental Cell and Cancer Cell among others). He also established long-lasting collaborations with top-notch scientists in the field and became also an inventor of a licensed international patent. In 2011 he got his first Faculty appointment at MGH and HU and in 2015 he joins the laboratory of Tim Graubert to expand his expertise in clonal expansion and myeloid malignancies. In April 2016 he joins the Department of onco-hematology at CIMA as an AECC Investigator to establish his own laboratory focused to the study of 1) the role of the HSC niche in homeostasis and regeneration as well as its contribution to aging and neoplastic transformation in the blood; and 2) expanding the use of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to non-malignant diseases.
Isabel Calvo
PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
Isabel Calvo started her B.Sc. in Salamanca and moved to Complutense University in Madrid to finish her B.Sc. in Biology in 2006. Then, she received her MSc and PhD in Molecular Biology in Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. At the end of 2013, she moved to Boston to begin her postdoctoral studies in the field of epigenetics at Massachusetts General Hospital (“MGH”) and Harvard Medical School (“HMS”). Since 2017, Isabel works at the Hemato-oncology program of CIMA (Pamplona, Spain), in the laboratory of Dr. Saez after being awarded by a Juan de la Cierva, Sara Borrell and Marie Curie (MSCA) post-doctoral fellowships. Her research focuses on a combination of large scale single cell transcriptome analysis and system biology using murine and human models to decipher the composition, as well as intercellular communication in the bone marrow microenvironment.
Ana Cristina Viñado
Graduate Student
Ana Cris was born in Zaragoza. She earned her degree in Veterinary Medicine from University of Zaragoza and joined the Veterinary Hospital to pursue two Masters in small animal clinic. After the rotations in the different specialties of veterinary medicine, Ana Cris decided to initiate a career in research in biomedicine (cancer), and so she made her way to Dr. Saez’s laboratory. Her PhD project focuses on the understanding of 1) the role of the BM niche in acute myeloid leukemia development, progression and resistance to treatment and 2) the contribution of clonal hematopoiesis in the pathogenesis of chronic pulmonary diseases.
Itziar Cenzano
Graduate Student
Itziar was born in a small town of Navarra. She earned her B.S. in Biochemistry from University of Navarra and then pursues a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Research (Cancer speciality). She started to work in Borja’s lab on Master’s degree thesis projects and currently she is working as a PhD student studying the transcriptome and cellular network of the bone marrow microenvironment.