Marina Lacasaña Navarro (Principal Reseracher): head of group E07 “Research in environmental health and childhood” of the Institute of Biosanitary Research of Granada. ibs.GRANADA, lecturer at the Andalusian School of Public Health. Doctorate in Pharmacy (Environment and Health Programme), Postdoctorate at the Pan-American Centre for Human Ecology and Health, PAHO/WHO. Fogarty Fellow (NIH, USA) for the training of leaders in environmental epidemiology at the Mount Sinai-Queens College International Training Program in Environmental and Occupational Health (2002-2004), Visiting Professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2014-2015). She has extensive experience in environmental and molecular epidemiology. She has been principal investigator in 12 projects and collaborator in 5 others. She has also participated as PI and collaborator in international projects in the USA (Fogarty) and the European Union (DG-SANCO, HBM4EU-H2020). She is the PI of the GENEIDA birth cohort. Co-PI of group 50 of the Cyber Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP). Director of the Environmental Health Observatory of Andalusia. Member of the international consortia PACE (Pregnancy and Childhood Epigenetics) and Placentomics, whose objectives are to study the environmental impact during the prenatal stage and the first years of life on human diseases throughout life, identifying epigenetic mechanisms. She has 89 publications indexed in JCR (> 70% in Q1 journals according to JCR classification), 67% of them as principal investigator, with 4,081 citations, index h=37. She has supervised 6 doctoral theses, 3 of them in progress, and 13 Master Thesis one of them in progress.
Research topics: Early exposures to environmental toxicants and effects on population health. Biomonitoring of environmental chemical pollutants. Genetic/epigenetic mechanisms associated with environmental exposures and foetal and infant health.
Email: marina.lacasana.easp (AT) juntadeandalucia.es
Antonio Hernández Jerez. Dr. Hernández Jerez is Professor of Toxicology at the University of Granada. He is a specialist in Occupational Medicine, Legal Medicine and Toxicology and University Expert in Epidemiology and Clinical Research. He is a member of the PPR Panel (phytosanitary products) of the European Food Safety Authority. His line of research for the last 30 years has been the effect of toxicants, especially pesticides and heavy metals, on human health as well as the role of biomarkers of toxic response and genetic susceptibility associated with exposure to these compounds. Since 2013 he has been actively involved in the GENEIDA cohort, providing toxicological and clinical advice on environmental pollutant exposure and health effects.
Research interests: Toxicology, Pesticides, Risk assessment, Toxicogenomics, Molecular epidemiology.
Email: ajerez (AT) ugr.es
Inmaculada López Flores. Bachelor’s degree in Biology and PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Granada, where she is Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics. Since 2008 she has been collaborating with Dr. Lacasaña’s group in the identification of genes involved in the metabolic detoxification of xenobiotics, as well as in the identification of biomarkers of genetic susceptibility to these compounds. She plays an important role in the GENEIDA cohort, within the research line focused on the study of genetic and epigenetic regulation of foetal growth and development, as well as the influence of environmental, nutritional, socio-demographic and lifestyle factors on these parameters.
Research topics: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Epigenetics, Pesticides, Risk biomarkers, Foetal growth and development.
Contact e-mail: ilopez (AT) ugr.es
Beatriz González Alzaga. Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences and PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health. In 2007 she joined Dr. Lacasaña’s research group at the Andalusian School of Public Health (Granada), working since then on the evaluation of the effects of exposures to environmental pollutants, such as pesticides and metals, and diet, on reproductive and child health. She has participated in the design and implementation of the GENEIDA study, highlighting her work in the tasks of supervision of participation and collection of information at different stages, among other aspects. She is currently a member of the group “Research in environmental and child health” at the Institute for Biosanitary Research of Granada (ibs.Granada).
Research topics: Environmental epidemiology, Pesticides, Public health, Child health.
Contact e-mail: bgonalz (AT) gmail.com
María José Giménez Asensio. Predoctoral researcher in the GENEIDA cohort (Medicine and Public Health programme at the University of Granada). Diploma in Nursing from the University of Almeria and Clinical Diagnostic Technician. Master in Research and Master in Mental Health. She is responsible for the fieldwork of the GENEIDA cohort in the Hospital de Poniente (Almería), participating in the collection and processing of biological samples from mothers and children, as well as in the collection of the necessary information for the study through questionnaires and hospital records. She combines this activity with the development of her doctoral thesis in the context of the GENEIDA cohort.
Research topics: Pregnancy, Child health, Child neurodevelopment, Pesticides, Metals.
Contact e-mail: mariajoseases (AT) hotmail.com
Helena García Cortés. Predoctoral researcher (PFIS) in the GENEIDA cohort (Doctoral Programme in Clinical Medicine and Public Health). PhD in Clinical Medicine and Public Health of the University of Granada) since 2019, developing her activity at the Andalusian School of Public Health. Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and environmental educator. She has experience in the fields of ecotoxicology (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos) and biomonitoring of environmental pollutants (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos). Her doctoral thesis focuses on pre- and postnatal exposure to organophosphorus flame retardants and neurodevelopmental effects at 12 and 24 months of age, in the framework of the GENEIDA cohort.
Research topics: Environmental epidemiology, Child health, Child neurodevelopment,
Flame retardants.
Contact e-mail: helena.garcia.easp (AT) juntadeandalucia.es
Luis Javier Martínez. Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences, PhD from the University of Granada, with extraordinary prize in the area of Biomedicine. Technical manager of the Genomics Unit of the Genomics and Oncology Research Centre (GENYO, Granada). Her work focuses on the application of molecular and population genetics to different areas: molecular anthropology, pharmacogenetics, clinical diagnosis, mental illness, cancer and forensic identification. Much of this knowledge is applied in the field of the GENEIDA cohort, especially in the tracking of differences at the genomic level, regulation and variations of gene expression, for the identification of genetic or susceptibility markers.
Research topics: Biotechnology, Genetics and Evolution, Genetic and susceptibility/risk biomarkers.
Contact e-mail: luisjavier.martinez (AT) genyo.es
Antonio Gómez Martín. He holds a degree in Biology, a Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, a Master’s degree in Genetics and Evolution, and a PhD in Clinical Medicine and Public Health from the University of Granada (UGR). He has worked at the UGR both in the Lab. of Genetic Identification (Lorente JA) and in the Dept. of Legal Medicine and Toxicology (Hernández AF), in the Genomics Unit of the Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (GENYO, Granada), and in the biotechnology companies Savia Biotech, Lorgen and NIMGenetics, being in the latter technical responsible for R+D+i. In 2021 she joined Dr Lacasaña’s research group at the Andalusian School of Public Health (Granada). Her participation in the GENEIDA cohort is focused on the study of the relationship between environmental exposures, genetic factors and health.
Research topics: human genetics, population genetics, genomic medicine, toxicogenetics, pharmacogenetics, epigenetics and cancer.
Contact e-mail: antonio.gm.gr (AT) gmail.com
Rafael Caparrós. Graduate in Psychology. He is currently working as a researcher at the Mind, Brain and Behaviour Research Centre (CIMCYC), Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, Spain, where he investigates the influence of prenatal stress (psychological and hair cortisol levels) on maternal health and foetal and infant development. He also holds a Diploma in Nursing and Midwifery. He combines his activity as a researcher with his work as a midwife. Research stay at the Medical Biology Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK) in 2015. He contributes to the GENEIDA cohort in the development of psychological batteries for pregnant women and child neuropsychological assessment.
Contact email: rcg477 (AT) correo.ugr.es
Natalia Fischer Suárez: Doctor of Medicine and specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She currently works in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department of the Public Health Agency Hospital de Poniente (Junta de Andalucía), especially in the area of prenatal diagnosis. In her research work, she has actively participated in multiple national and international congresses where she has presented more than 50 scientific communications. Since 2014 she has been collaborating in the GENEIDA cohort by recruiting patients, collecting data and studying the influence of nutritional and environmental factors on adverse gestational events and foetal development.
Research topics: fetal medicine, preterm birth, vitamin D, fertility, fetal development and growth.
Carlos Javier Maroto Díaz. Graduate in General Medicine and Surgery from the University of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid, 1988) and Specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology through the MIR system (Hospital Universitario Severo Ochoa, Madrid, 1994), where he carried out his healthcare activity until 2004. Currently, FEA in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at APES Hospital de Poniente, where she has worked as a specialist since 2004. Since 2015, she collaborates with Dr. Lacasaña’s group, within the GENEIDA Birth Cohort, being relevant her clinical contribution within the group, playing an important role within the research line focused on the influence of organophosphorus environmental pollutants on infant growth and neurodevelopment, mediated by thyroid hormones.
Research topics: Pesticides. Thyroid dysfunction. Fetal growth. Neurodevelopment.