We study a poorly characterized bacterial gender of the Planctomycetes phylum, Gemmata obscuriglobus. Planctomycetes are major players in the global nitrogen and carbon cycles and are uniquely capable of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (a globally important nitrogen transformation).

Our group focuses on the biotechnology of Immune Defense Strategies, such as the production of natural antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and IgY antibodies in vertebrates. We use bioinformatics tools to identify AMPs in genomes and transcriptomes of different species. Our goal is to develop innovative and sustainable biotechnological solutions to address the challenges of antimicrobial resistance and to promote environmentally friendly approaches to pathogen control in agriculture, veterinary medicine, and human health.

One of the great challenges of the current Animal Health is to preserve the welfare and health of the animals; monitor the production of healthy foods; prevent the transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to humans; and monitor the emergence and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes.

The main scientific activity of this group focuses on the study of cosmetic and textile application of vehicles, able to encapsulate active principles. These lipid structures, such as liposomes, microspheres, etc., modulate the penetration of the actives in the different substrates. The effectiveness of the topical application on skin or hair to improve the hydration and skin barrier function, lipid peroxidation, etc. is evaluated.

Plasma Chemistry Group research is focused on the study and technological applications of plasma (4th state of the matter). Plasma state is the most common state of the matter found in universe. However, plasma can be man-made generated by the application of an electrical discharge in gases at both low and atmospheric pressure. Therefore, plasma can be considered as an ionized gas composed of molecules, excited atoms, free radicals, metaestable particles, electrons, ions and by electromagnetic radiations coming from deexcitation of these particles.

Diversity, genomics, physiology and biotechnology of microorganisms and their communities in a variety of environments with a model on extreme conditions. The group and activities have the possibility of getting integrated into different ERC disciplines within the “Life Sciences”, including the sections LS8, LS9, LS2 and LS1.

Our research interests lie at the interface between Chemistry and Biology. We apply Molecular Modeling and Computational Chemistry to the understanding of ligand-receptor interactions and molecular recognition processes in innate immunity relevant for the design of drugs and biological probes.

This research group studies interrelated issues on the origin and early evolution of life (including experimental and theoretical approaches to the RNA world hypothesis), genetics of RNA viruses (dynamics of viral quasispecies and sequence-structure-function relationships in viral genomic RNA), in vitro evolution of nucleic acids (RNA and DNA aptamers), and biosensor development (DNA microarray technology, aptamers and peptide nucleic acids-based biosensors, bionanotechnology-inspired sensors).