Team

  • Dr. Lluís Tort is the leader of the AQUAB group and an internationally renowned specialist in fish stress and immunosuppressive status of fish under aquaculture conditions. He has worked on several fish species, mainly sea bream, sea bass and rainbow trout, but also other commercial and laboratory models. As a result, he has participated in many international and national projects and has published more than 270 articles, and several book chapters, including the edition of the books “Biology of stress in fish” (Academic Press, Elsevier) and a stress chapter in “Principles of fish immunology” (Springer).
  • Dr. Mariana Teles, is a Ramon y Cajal Research Fellow at the AQUAB group (UAB) with an extensive background on fish ecotoxicology. Currently she analyzes the impact of emergent contaminants, including nanoplastics, on commercial fish and bivalve species, focusing in the development of new tools and biomarkers to asses the short- to long-term effect of xenobiotics on metabolic and immune pathways, employing an integrated and multidisciplinary approach.
  • Dr. Joan Carles Balasch is a Lecturer at the AQUAB group (UAB). His expertise focuses on fish immunology, host-pathogen interactions, and the relationship between stress and immunity in fish. Other than this, he has a long and widely recognized reputation on teaching and education of young researchers with a special emphasis on the analysis and graphic design applied to presentation of research results and outreach.
  • Dr. Irene Brandts is a postdoctoral researcher focused on assessing the effects of contaminants in fish studying the stress and immune response and exploring effects on lipid metabolism, using both in vivo and in vitro invertebrate and fish models and genomic tools.
  • MSc Manuel Blonç, currently a MSCA Ph.D. candidate, has extensive experience working with recirculated aquaculture systems (RAS). His research focuses on the effects of chronic exposures to emergent contaminants in fish and the development of non-invasive stress and welfare indicators, including in-house protocols to extract metabolites from fish plasma and organs, and eRNA from water samples.
  • MSc Nuria Ruiz, currently a Ph.D. candidate, analyzes the response of the different mucosal-associated lymphoid tissues (MALTs) in fish to stressors, and their potential as non-invasive indicators, including the extraction of metabolites from water (such as cortisol) to assess the stress status of fish.
  • Juan Ramos, currently a Ph.D. candidate in our group.
  • Hayam Djafar, currently a Ph.D. candidate in our group.
  • Pilar Tudela, with a degree in veterinary and a specialization in laboratory management, she is the key person in the organization of our laboratory, safety and security in research and maintenance of equipment.
  • Celia Arcarons, our wet lab technician.

Personal in training

  • Ekemini Okon – Master’s thesis of the ERASMUS Mundus MSc in Health Management in Aquaculture.
  • Alex Martí – Master’s thesis of the MSc in Aquaculture from the Universitat de Barcelona.
  • Andrea Moscoso – Superior training cycle as laboratory technician.
  • Daniela Jornet – Superior training cycle as laboratory technician.
  • Toni Espuña – Bachelor’s thesis of the BE in Electronic and industrial engineering and automatisation from the EUSS.