Board of Directors

Our board of directors is here to help you

President

Pilar Ayuda Durán

I was born in Salamanca, but I grew up in a small nearby city called Ciudad Rodrigo. I studied Biology and Biochemistry in the University of Salamanca. Then I did my PhD in the Center of Cancer Research in the same city. It focused in the effect of errors in cell cycle control in the cell genetic material, using budding yeast as a model organism. I worked for one year in Abengoa improving the efficiency of ethanol production from fermentation of plant residues before coming back to my real passion, cancer research.

I moved to Oslo with a fellowship from the Alonso Martín Escudero foundation and, after two years, I got a contract in my research group in Radium hospital, where I have been working for 6 years. I collaborate with hematologists to study precision medicine in leukemia.

Social media

Sara Orellana

My name is Sara Orellana. I come from Badajoz, Spain. I studied biology in University of Extremadura and then I did my PhD at the University of Salamanca where I worked on characterization of cytokinesis process in budding yeast and my research project focused on the importance of the septin ring plasticity in the ability of C. albicans to switch between the yeast and hyphal forms.

I work in Oslo Universitetssykehus two years ago and I am studying mechanisms of autophagy induction using S. cerevisiae as a model organism.

Oslo delegate

Natalia Berges

My name is Natalia Berges Jimenez. I come from Zaragoza (Spain). I studied biology at Universidad de Alcalá in Madrid (Spain). During my degree, I spent a year in Lund (Sweden) as an Erasmus and half a year in Barcelona (Spain) with a mobility grant. After I graduated, I moved back to Madrid and I did a master in molecular biology at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In 2014 I moved to Oslo and started my PhD at Oslo University Hospital in Ingrun Alseth’s group. Our goal was to study RNA editing in cancer.

I graduated in September 2019. Nowadays I am a postdoctoral fellow at Oslo University Hospital in Kirsten Skarstad’s group. We are studying DNA hypercompaction as a strategy to fight antimicrobial resistance.

Vicepresident

Carmen Herrera

My name is Carmen Herrera. I am from Cordoba, Spain. I studied Biochemistry at the University of Granada where I also got the PhD degree in Molecular Biology. I did a first postdoc at the Imperial College, London (UK) and a second one at the Oslo University Hospital, Oslo (Norway) to study and characterize molecular mechanisms during cell division such as DNA replication and cell cycle dependent transcription regulation.

I am currently working at the Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital (Norway), to identify new therapies that prevent drug resistance in leukemia.

Treasurer

Alicia Martínez Llorente

I come from Madrid, Spain. I studied Chemistry at the Autónoma University of Madrid and at The European Higher Institute of Chemistry of Strasbourg, France. Then, I moved to Norway to do a PhD at the Oslo University Hospital. I defended my thesis, “Studies on the Endocytic Pathway: Analysis of Ricin Trafficking” at the University of Oslo in 2000. I did then a postdoctoral at the Centre for Molecular Biology "Severo Ochoa", Madrid, Spain, and a second one at the Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, on the topic intracellular transport along the endocytic pathway. After my postdoctoral, I worked as an advisor in scientific communication at The Norwegian Cancer Society for two years.

In 2010, I established my project group at the Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, to study the secretion of extracellular vesicles and investigate their potential use as liquid biopsies for cancer.

Tromsø delegate

Elia Gabarrón

I was born in Barcelona. I studied Psychology, and two advanced degrees, in Chronic Mental Illness, and in Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, both at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Later on, I moved to Tromsø and I was awarded with a PhD degree in Health Sciences from the Arctic University of Norway. I worked in my postdoctoral research project at the Norwegian Centre for E-health Research, University Hospital North Norway, where I am currently working as senior researcher. My research focuses on the use of digital technologies, and especially social media, for supporting and educating people to prevent and to manage health conditions.

Secretary

Manuel Ramírez Garrastacho

I was born in Miranda de Ebro, Burgos. I studied Biology and Biochemistry in the University of Salamanca. I did my PhD in the Institute of Biochemical Microbiology in Salamanca studying RNA virus in yeast. Then I moved to Greece to do a postdoc in the University of Patras. There I used yeast as a model organism to study DNA re-replication.

After that I moved to Oslo and enrolled in a Master in Biostatistics and Bioinformatics. I did a shot internship in the Bioinformatics Core Facility in Radium hospital and now I work as a researcher in the department of Molecular Cell Biology in the same hospital, searching for new biomarker for the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Trondheim delegate

María José Lagartos

I come from Madrid, Spain. I studied genetics and molecular biology in Autónoma University of Madrid. I did my Phd at the University of Castilla-La Mancha where worked on the characterization of interneuron populations in the hippocampus of two murine models, SAMP8 and Pol mu mice, during the aging process. Afterwards I was postdoctoral fellow at the Kavli Intitute for Systems Neuroscience/Centre for Neural Computation in Trondheim (Norway) and my research project focused on how contextual information is integrated by the parahippocampal region, a key structure for memory and learning.

Nowadays I am postdoctoral fellow at University of Oslo where I am studying Alzheimer´s disease.