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” at the AQUAB group (UAB). She specialises in assessing the impact of emergent contaminants, including NPs, on species produced for human consumption employing an integrated and multidisciplinary approach.
  • Dr. Joan Carles Balasch. His expertise focuses on fish immunology and the relationship between stress and immunity in fish. Other than this, he has a long and widely recognised reputation on teaching and education of young researchers with a special emphasis on the analysis and presentation of research results and outreach of the developments obtained by the group.
  • Dr. Irene Brandts: her technical skills include in vivo exposures in ecotoxicology settings (invertebrates and fish). Up to now, her research has 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 models and genomic tools.
  • MSc Manuel Blonç: currently a MSCA Ph.D. candidate, he has extensive experience working with recirculated aquaculture systems (RAS). His research focuses on the effects of chronic exposures to emergent contaminants in fish. Furthermore, he is investigating different non-invasive stress and welfare indicators, with particular focus on fish behaviour. He has also perfected in-house protocols to extract metabolites from fish plasma and organs, and to extract and purify RNA from water samples (eRNA).
  • MSc Nuria Ruiz: Currently a Ph.D. candidate, she has extensive experience working in the laboratory. Her research focuses on the response of the different mucosal barriers in fish to stressors, and their potential as little-to-non-invasive indicators. She is an expert in molecular biology techniques, particularly gene expression through RT-qPCR, and biochemical analyses in plasma. She is specialised in the extraction of metabolites from water (such as cortisol) to assess the stress status of fish in a non-invasive manner.
  • MSc Camila Barrià
  • Monsterrat Messalles
  • Hayam Djafar
  • Pilar Tudela: With a degree in veterinary and a specialization in laboratory management, she is a key person in the organization of the laboratory, safety and security in research and maintenance of equipment.
  • Celia Arcarons

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 from
  • Daniela Jornet – Superior training cycle as laboratory technician from
  • Toni Espuña – Bachelor’s thesis of the BE in Electronic and industrial engineering and automatisation from the EUSS.