Juan Antonio
Marchal

Juan Antonio Marchal is Full Professor at the Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology at the School of Medicine (University de Granada). He is Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery of Granada District since 2006, and coordinator of 2 Doctoral Programs with Quality Mention and 2 Official Masters He has received 11 research awards, among them the I Prize for Health Research of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia or the recent award of the Social Council of UGR (2015). He is evaluator and member of the Scientific Committee of the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia (SSPA) and evaluator of projects for Biomedical Research and Health Sciences of the Department of Equality, Health and Social Policies, Government of Andalusia, the Dutch Cancer Society (Holland), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the French National Research Agency (ANR, France), de Det Norske Veritas Business Assurance España S.L. (DNV GL), the National Science Centre (Nauki – Polonia), the Dutch Heart Foundation, the National Agency for Science and Technology (Argentina). He is the director of the research group “CTS-963: Differentiation, Regeneration and Cancer" and the chair  Drs. Galera and Requena of Cancer Stem Cell Research at the University of Granada. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the International Graduate School of UGR, member of the standing committee of the Scientific Council and coordinator of Research Area at the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA) and member of the Governing Board of Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER). Moreover, he is director of the research line in the PhD program in Biomedicine and coordinator of the Official Master "Translational Research and Personalized Medicine" (TransMed) (http://masteres.ugr.es/transmed/). He was a visiting scholar at the University of Sassari (Italy) and the University of Guadalajara and the Western Biomedical Research Center (México). 

 

The research activity of the applicant focuses on the study of normal and pathological differentiation processes, addressing it in three levels of organization, from the macroscopic level to the study at the cellular level and, lastly, analyzing the molecular bases. For this, we use valid experimental models, such as normal human and tumour cell lines, or stem cells obtained from patients. The two main axes of our research, regenerative medicine and experimental oncology, not only focus on the basic aspects but also clearly translational and multidisciplinary, with the possibility of diagnostic application and of therapeutic use to benefit the health of patients with high prevalence diseases such as degenerative diseases and cancer. The applicant has also experience in the use of 3D bioprinting and the development of new bioinks, for the regeneration of cartilage lesions, the production of autologous biomimetic skin or vascular substitutes stand out. In the field of experimental oncology, the applicant has implemented different therapeutic strategies directed against cancer stem cells (CSCs) based on novel natural and synthetic drugs, gene therapy, ultrasound, nanotechnology (nanoparticles of olive oil, silk proteins or polystyrene) and combinations of all of them. From the field of diagnosis, we have made a great advance in the identification of new biomarkers with prognostic and predictive value of response to cancer treatment and have developed an integrated non-invasive, highly sensitive and selective platform based on the use of bioinformatics, nanotechnology and graphene biosensors.  

 

He teaches Human Anatomy at the undergraduate level and at post-graduate level in three Master’s degrees (“Translational Research and Personalized Medicine”, “Advances in Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiology and Physical Medicine” and “Biotechnology and Biomedicine). He has been supervisor of 13 PhD students (12 with International mention) and currently is supervising 9 more. Juan Antonio has participated in 47 (20 as PI) national and international projects and serves as reviewer in and 44 top journals. He is inventor of 16 patents (6 licensed), is Co-founder of the TBC Regemat 3D (http://www.regemat3d.com/) and the Spin-off PKR-Exogenetics S.L. and Scientific advisor of Propanc Bipharma, Inc. (https://www.propanc.com/).