Dr. Marta Barniol-Xicota will supervise DC5 (SMALP-stabilised kinase reconstitution to bridge structural and cellular states).
She is the director of the Peptide Facility UPF-PRBB. She is a medicinal chemist/chemical biologist and group leader at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF, Barcelona), where she heads the Chemical Biology & Peptide Theranostics Lab. Her research focuses on developing peptide- and probe-based tools to study proteases and other enzymes implicated in cancer and inflammatory disease, with a special interest in intramembrane proteases. By combining medicinal chemistry, peptide engineering and molecular biology, her group designs macrocyclic substrates, activity-based probes and phage-display platforms to discover new biomarkers and enable more selective diagnostics and therapies.
Marta obtained her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Barcelona, where her work on antiviral small molecules was recognized with the university’s premi extraordinari de doctorat for best doctoral thesis. During her postdoctoral research at KU Leuven and Stanford University, she pioneered chemically modified phage-display methods to identify highly selective macrocyclic substrates and covalent inhibitors, work that has led to publications in leading journals such as Journal of the American Chemical Society and Chemical Science. Her scientific trajectory has been recognized with several competitive awards, including the Premi al Talent Científic Emergent from the Societat Catalana de Química, the Incentive Award of the Belgian Chemical Societies, and distinctions from international schools and foundations. In 2024 she was also honored by SportLife Iberia and the Carrera de la Mujer for her inspiring role as a woman scientist, reflecting her commitment not only to cutting-edge research but also to mentoring and scientific outreach.
