Three UBneuro researchers distinguished with the 2025 Academy of Excellence grants

Three professors from the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona (UBneuro), Mercè Masana, Daniel del Toro, and Marina López-Solà, have been selected in the 2025 call of the Academy of Excellence program. In this edition, fifty lecturers from the Catalan university system have been awarded, six of them from the University of Barcelona. Remarkably, three out of these six UB awardees are members of UBneuro, highlighting the strong contribution of our institute to the university’s research excellence.

The Academy of Excellence grants, which replace the former ICREA Academia program, aim to intensify the scientific activity of university lecturers who are in a fully active and expanding phase of their research careers. The program is managed by the Agency for the Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) and is endowed with a total budget of 10 million euros. Each selected professor will receive 40,000 euros per year for five years, in order to prioritize research activities and strengthen the international leadership of Catalonia’s university system.

At the University of Barcelona, the Academy of Excellence 2025 call has recognized six professors: Marián Boguñá Espinal, David Fernández Duque, Ignacio Sirés Sadornil, Daniel del Toro Ruiz, Marina López-Solà and Mercè Masana Nadal. Of these, Masana, del Toro and López-Solà are affiliated with Institute of Neurosciences (UBneuro) and are associate professors at UB’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Mercè Masana is a principal investigator of the Neuronal Network Dysfunction in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders group. Her research focuses on understanding neuronal circuitry alterations in brain diseases and developing  strategies to modulate them selectively to correct motor, cognitive and affective symptoms. Her team combines advanced techniques such as in vitro and in vivo calcium imaging, optogenetics, fiber photometry and magnetic resonance imaging in experimental models of neurodegenerative disorders. These tools allow them to identify and characterize circuits affected in conditions such as Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, chorea-acanthocytosis and glioma, and to design and test novel approaches with the long-term goal of creating minimally invasive interventions that can restore normal circuit function and improve patients’ quality of life.

“Being awarded the Academy of Excellence grant is an important milestone that highlights the global reach of our team work. With this support, we aim to further advance light-based therapeutic strategies and technologies for circuit neuromodulation in brain disorders, opening new paths to understand and treat neurodegenerative diseases more effectively” says Prof. Masana

Daniel del Toro is a principal investigator of the Stem Cells and Neurodevelopment group. His laboratory investigates the development of the neocortex, the most evolutionarily advanced region of the brain and the source of higher cognitive functions such as language. The group studies how two tightly coordinated processes, the proliferation of neuronal progenitors and the migration of cortical neurons, shape the columnar and layered structure of the cortex and contribute to its expansion and folding. Using expression profiling, conditional mouse models, functional in vitro and in vivo assays and state-of-the-art imaging techniques, they aim to uncover the molecular mechanisms that shape cortical organization. They are particularly interested in the use of partial reprogramming to enhance neurogenesis and in the role of synaptic proteins during cortical migration, to understand how these processes impact on cortical development and influence behavior and intelligence.

“The ICREA Academia distinction represents a great opportunity to increase research productivity and to focus on managing two major international projects on neurodevelopment and pediatric tumors. This support will strengthen our capacity for scientific leadership and collaboration, while boosting the international visibility and impact of our work.” points Prof. del Toro

Marina López-Solà is a principal investigator of the Neuroimaging in Degenerative Disorders group and has directed the Pain and Emotion Neuroscience Laboratory since 2017, first in the US and now in Barcelona. Her work seeks to identify the brain–body mechanisms underlying chronic pain and affective symptoms across the lifespan. Her lab integrates functional brain imaging using fMRI, peripheral inflammatory and immune responses, reports of subjective experience, behavioral data from wearables and experimental tasks, and socio-cultural markers to ascertain diagnostic and prognostic signatures in chronic pain and affective conditions. López-Solà and her team aim to identify novel predictive signatures of pain and negative affect chronicity, recovery and resilience across the lifespan.

“The ICREA Academia represents a major distinction in my career and a unique opportunity to foster a new line of study to understand the brain and body mechanisms responsible of chronic pain and reduced quality of life in children and adolescents. This award will allow me to increase research productivity and focus on managing my ERC-Consolidator grant as well as other national and international projects in pediatric and adult pain conditions. This award will strengthen my role in the field and support the creation of new collaborative networks, helping expand the influence and visibility of our research. ” highlights Prof. López-Solà