Dra. Ana María González Castro

I graduated in Biology from the Faculty of Biology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1999 and completed my doctoral thesis in Digestive Pathophysiology (University of Barcelona, 2006). I then joined the laboratory of the Digestive System Service of the Hospital Vall d'Hebron under the supervision of Dr. Xavier Molero in the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Pancreatic Diseases group. From 2009 to 2011, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Neuro-Immuno-Gastroenterology group led by Dr Javier Santos, VHIR, where together with Dr. María Vicario I focused on the study of immune cell populations, with particular attention to the role of mast cells and plasma cells in the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome. In 2011 I received a postdoctoral research fellowship from Linkoping University (Sweden). My research there focused on studying the humoral immune response in the colonic mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis and the effect of stress on the colonic mucosa of healthy volunteers. In 2013, I joined the group of Mucosal Translational Immunology as a post-doctoral researcher, together with Dr María Vicario. My research has been aimed at improving the current understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying gastrointestinal disorders and identifying immune changes in the intestinal mucosa that are associated with altered intestinal permeability and the development of intestinal inflammation. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Neuro-Immuno-Gastroenterology Laboratory led by Dr Santos, collaborating with the principal investigators on varius research projects and coordinating the research work in the laboratory. I also participate in the training of undergraduate, masters and pre-doctoral students and I am very committed to the training of young researchers.. Since 2022, I have been a professor in the Master in Translational Biomedical Research (VHIR-UAB).