About Toni
Dr. Toni Gabaldón is ICREA Research Professor jointly affiliated to the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC), where he leads the Comparative Genomics group (www.cgenomics.org). Gabaldón holds a degree in Biology with specialization in Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology from University of Valencia (Spain), and a doctorate in Medical Sciences from the University of Nijmegen (The Netherlands). Eduard has extensive expertise in evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics and microbiology. His research focuses on understanding underlying genomic bases of organismal adaptations, particularly in microbial organisms. He has developed and applied computational strategies to address relevant transitions such as the origin of eukaryotes, the emergence of novel fungal pathogens, or the acquisition of resistance by microbes during therapy. Dr. Gabaldón has received honors and awards such as the EMBO and American Academy of Microbioloy membership, the ERC starting and consolidator grants, and the Margaret Dayhoff award.
Research
Fungal infections constitute an ever-growing and significant medical problem. Diseases caused by such pathogens range from simple toe nail infections, to life-threatening systemic mycoses in patients with impaired immune systems. The molecular mechanisms driving invasion of mammalian hosts by fungal pathogens poses many scientifically challenging problems, which are as yet little understood. The ability to infect humans has emerged in several lineages throughout the fungal tree of life. It is still unclear what traits facilitate this virulence and how they were selected in environments other than the human body.