Our Team

Josefa González obtained her PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), ​​Spain. After a first postdoctoral stay at UAB, he moved to Stanford University to work with Professor Dmitri Petrov. While at Stanford, she was first a Fulbright postdoctoral fellow and then an associate researcher in the Department of Biology. In 2011, she joined the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IB E) in Barcelona as a Ramon y Cajal researcher. Since March 2017, she has been a CSIC Senior Scientist at IBE. Dr. González is co-founder and coordinator of the Drosophila scientific research network on genomics, DrosEU, and is part of the Spanish network of excellence research AdapNET. She is a member of the board of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) and coordinator of the Evolutionary Biology section of the Catalan Society of Biology. She is currently an ERC (European Research Council) researcher.

He is responsible for the design of the project and its communication. Roberto has a long history in advertising and marketing and experience as a consultant in scientific communication. Co-director of the science outreach platform La Ciència Al Teu Món (Science in your world). He has experience in the design, implementation, and evaluation of both in-person and virtual promotional activities. In addition to having extensive knowledge and experience in audiovisual production, he has also designed interactive teaching materials and multimedia content for the dissemination of science. He has developed communication concepts and strategies for different research centers, scientific networks, and scientific magazines at an international level. Roberto has been recognized for his outstanding work in science communication aimed at youth audiences. He is also the Communication Officer of the COST EuroScitizen Action, where we also contribute to the Citizen Science working group.

Sònia Casillas is a collaborator with the Melanogaster: Catch the Fly! project, where she directs the citizen science activity Code the Fly, where participants contribute to the analysis of the Drosophila melanogaster genome by using bioinformatic tools to estimate the frequencies of mobile elements (also called transposons) in different populations.

Dr. Casillas obtained her PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in 2008 after presenting her thesis entitled “Development and application of bioinformatic tools for the representation and analysis of genetic diversity”. Currently, she is a professor and researcher in the Genomics Group, Bioinformatics and Evolution (GGBE)  of the Department of Genetics and Microbiology at the UAB. Her fields of research are Population Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics. She also leads the teaching innovation project known as  Adapta’t and the global justice education project called Genogràfic , both funded by the UAB.

Dr. Miriam Merenciano is currently a Beatriu de Pinós postdoctoral researcher in the Genomics, Bioinformatics, and Evolutionary Biology group of the Department of Genetics and Microbiology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She holds a BSc in Human Biology and MSc in Biomedical Research from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). She completed her PhD in Genetics at the Evolutionary and Functional Genomics lab (González Lab) at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF). Following her PhD, she was awarded a Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship to work as a postdoctoral researcher at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 in France.

She has collaborated in several scientific outreach activities from the González Lab, particularly the #MelanogasterCTF citizen science project. In addition, she coordinates the Citizen Fly Lab activity, in which students from European schools experimentally validate the bioinformatic predictions of scientists from the DrosEU network. Through this program, students gain hands-on experience with real scientific equipment and molecular biology techniques such as DNA extraction and PCR. The project also aims to foster scientific vocations among young people, with a special focus on promoting the role of women in science.

Graduated in Biotechnology  and MSc in Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry. During summer 2019, she completed an internship in the IRTA Torre Marimón ruminant department, working on the production of recombinant proteins. Later, she worked at González Lab at the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF) to develop her final degree project based on the study of the role of transposable elements (TE) in the adaptation of Drosophila melanogaster from the application of CRISPR / Cas9 technology to functionally validate the identified mutations. Currently, she is a predoctoral researcher in the research team Retrovirología y Estudios Clínicos (GREC) at the Instituto de Investigación del Sida IrsiCaixa, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Campus Can Ruti, Badalona, Spain.

Irene got in touch with González Lab through the #MelanogasterCTF citizen science project, designing and developing the «Magni-Fly» device that converts the mobile phone into a stereoscopic magnifying glass for the classification of Drosophilas

Dr. Marta Coronado Zamora is a lecturer in the Department of Genetics and Microbiology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and a researcher in the Genomics, Bioinformatics, and Evolutionary Biology group. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Genetics, a Master’s in Bioinformatics, and a PhD in Genetics, all from UAB.

Paula Pallaruelo studied Biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Her motivation and curiosity for conservation led her to do two research stays abroad during her undergraduate years, at Università di Roma Tre and the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica. She wrote her final degree project on the threats to and main conservation measures for wildlife in the Aragonese Pyrenees. Now she is studying the “Máster en Ecología, Gestión y Restauración del Medio Natural” at the Universidad de Barcelona.

She contributes to Melanogaster: Catch the Fly! as a content manager for the initiative “Time Flies!”.

Nora completed her Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Bremen, focusing on neuroscience.

As an intern with Melanogaster: Catch the Fly!, she contributes to project organization, communication, and educational outreach. She supports the team in building connections between research, schools, and citizen scientists across Europe and beyond.