Alvaro Rada Iglesias

Agencia Estatal Consejo Superio de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)

Biosketch

Alvaro Rada Iglesias received his M.Sc. in Biology by the University of Leon in 2001, being recognized as the best academic curriculum of that year. Then, he obtained his PhD in 2007 at Uppsala University (Sweden), where he worked in the laboratory of Prof. Claes Wadelius. After a short post-doctoral work in the Linnaeaus Centre for Bioinformatics (Uppsala University, Sweden) under the supervision of Prof. Jan Komorowski, he obtained an EMBO long-term fellowship to continue his postdoctoral career in the laboratory of Prof. Joanna Wysocka at Stanford University (USA), where he stayed between 2009-2013. In 2013, he was recruited by the University of Cologne as a Junior Research Group Leader at the Centre for Molecular Medicine Cologne, where he successfully started his independent research group. This was recognized with an EMBO Young Investigator award (EMBO YIP) in 2017. In July 2018 Alvaro Rada Iglesias was recruited as a Principal Investigator by the University of Cantabria to direct his research group at the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria (IBBTEC).  In 2020, he became a Tenured Scientist at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). In recent years, his work has been recognized by an EMBO Young Investigator award (EMBO YIP; 2017), the José Luís Gómez Skarmeta award (2020) and an ERC Consolidator grant (2019).

Research interests:

The main interest of our laboratory is to uncover the main genetic and epigenetic factors that allow enhancers to control the establishment of gene expression profiles as developmental programs unroll. Our goal is to provide a deep mechanistic understanding of the non-coding genomic space that is dynamically and specifically used during mammalian embryogenesis, which is fundamental to reveal the molecular basis of human congenital diseases.

Academic and Professional Background:

2020-Present     Tenured Scientist, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain.

2018-2020        Principal Investigator STAR2, Universidad de Cantabria (Santander, Spain).

2013-2020        Junior Group Leader, Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC),           University of Cologne (Germany).

2013-2020         Associated member, CECAD, University of Cologne (Germany).

2009-2013          Postdoctoral  fellow at Joanna Wysocka’s lab, Department of Chemical and     Systems Biology, Stanford University (USA).

2008-2009        Researcher at Jan Komorowski´s lab, Linnaeus Centre for Bioinformatics, Uppsala     University (Sweden).

2001-2007        Medicine PhD exam at Uppsala University entitled: “From single gene to whole     genome studies of Human Transcription Regulation”.                     

1997-2001          M.Sc. in Biology. Leon University (Spain). Faculty of Biological Sciences.

Fellowships and awards:

2020        José Luís Gómez Skarmeta award, Spanish Society for Developmental     Biology (SEBD) 

2019        ERC Consolidator Grant

2019        Marie Skłodowska-Curie action (MSCA)-ITN-ETN: European Training Network “Enhpathy”;                    Vice-coordinator and Project Leader

2018        STAR2 Grant, University of Cantabria (Spain)

2017        EMBO Young Investigator

2012        Siebel Scholar award

2011        Forbeck Research Foundation Scholar award

2009-2011    EMBO long-term fellowship

Selected publications:

1. 1. Bleckwehl T, Crispatzu G, Schaaf K, Respuela P, Bartusel M, Benson L, Clark SJ, Dorighi KM, Barral A, Laugsch M, van IJcken WFJ, Manzanares M, Wysocka J, Reik W, Rada-Iglesias A#. Enhancer-associated H3K4 methylation safeguards in vitro germline competence. Nat Commun. 2021 Oct 1;12(1):5771. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26065-6. PMID: 34599190.
   2. Crispatzu G, Rehimi R, Pachano T, Bleckwehl T, Cruz-Molina S, Xiao C, Mahabir-Brenner E, Bazzi H, Rada-Iglesias A#. The chromatin, topological and regulatory properties of pluripotency-associated poised enhancers are conserved in vivo. Nat Comm. 2021 Jul 16;12(1):4344. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24641-4. PMID: 34272393
   3. Pachano T, Sánchez-Gaya V, Ealo T, Mariner-Faulí M, Bleckwehl T, Asenjo HG, Respuela P, Cruz-Molina S, Muñoz-San Martín M, Haro E, van IJcken WFJ, Landeira D, Rada-Iglesias A#. Orphan CpG islands amplify poised enhancer regulatory activity and determine target gene responsiveness. Nat Genet. 2021 Jul;53(7):1036-1049. PMID: 34183853
   4. Laugsch M, Bartusel M, Rehimi R, Alirzayeva H, Karaolidou A, Crispatzu G, Zentis P, Nikolic M, Bleckwehl T, Kolovos P, van Ijcken, W.F.J., Šarić T, Köhler K, Frommolt P, Lachlan K, Baptista J#, Rada-Iglesias, A#. Modelling the pathological long-range regulatory effects of human structural variation with patient-specific hiPSCs. Cell Stem Cell, 2019 May 2;24(5):736-752.
   5. Cruz-Molina S, Respuela P, Tebartz C, Kolovos P, Nikolic M, Fueyo R, van Ijcken W.F.J, Grosveld F, Frommolt P, Bazzi H, Rada-Iglesias A#. PRC2 facilitates the regulatory topology required for poised enhancer function during pluripotent stem cell differentiation. Cell Stem Cell. 2017 May 4;20(5):689-705.

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