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Lab members

Sara Sdelci, PhD

Group leader

Sara obtained her PhD degree in Biomedicine from the University of Barcelona in 2012, after developing a cell cycle focused project at the IRB (Barcelona). Then, she moved for her postdoctoral studies to CeMM (Vienna), where she became expert in designing elegant reporter strategies and performing chemical and genetic screens. In January 2019 she started her group at the CRG (Barcelona).

sara.sdelci@crg.eu

Sara Musa Afaneh, MSc

Lab Manager

Sara completed her BSc from the University of Barcelona (UB) with a degree in biochemistry and then joined our lab to complete here Masters in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Biomedicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). After being in our lab as a research technician, she now continues as Lab manager.

smusa@crg.eu

Toni Gañez, PhD

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW

Toni performed his PhD studies in the group of Ann-Kristin Östlund-Farrants at the Stockholm University, focusing on mRNA processing and ribosomal gene expression regulated by chromatin remodeling complexes.
In 2019, he joined our group as a laboratory technician and more recently was awarded a postdoctoral position. His project focuses on the role of metabolic enzymes in cell cycle regulation.

toni.ganez@crg.eu

Camilla Elbæk Reiter, PhD

Postdoctoral fellow 

Camilla completed her Master’s degree at the University of Copenhagen, where she worked on cell cycle regulation and cancer vulnerabilities. She pursued her PhD in the group of Rune Damgaard at the Technical University of Denmark, focusing on ubiquitin-mediated control of the cellular energy sensor AMPK. She joined the Sdelci Lab in 2025 as a postdoctoral researcher to develop image analysis pipelines for studying metabolic enzymes in the nucleus of cells within cancer tissue.

camilla.elbaek@crg.eu

Júlia Urgel, MSc

PHD STUDENT

Júlia performed her BSc in Human Biology at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and her MSc degree of Multidisciplinary Research in Experimental Sciences at Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology. The complexity of cellular dynamics in cancer and how the cancer cell can reshape and fine-tune gene regulation at many different levels has deepened her interest in cancer research and has increased her motivation for pursuing a PhD. She is a joint PhD student between our lab and the Janic’s Lab (UPF), and she focuses in in vivo functional genomics to unveil novel metabolic vulnerabilities. 

julia.urgel@crg.eu

Matilda Pfeiffer, MSc

PHD STUDENT

Matilda pursued her BSc in Biology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany and specialized in Neuroscience at the Universität Leipzig, Germany. During the Master’s, she joined the Mittelbrunn lab for Immunometabolism and Inflammation at the CBM in Madrid, Spain. In her intention to explore the boundaries between arts and science, in 2021 she was awarded the “Bayern Innovative“ grant to compose music and analyze its effects on the immune system. In 2023 she obtained the PROMOS scholarship to work for “Musica por la Ciencia” in Argentina, a foundation using music as a mean for scientific communication. She joined the Sdelci Lab in 2023 as a LaCaixa fellow to decipher the impact of nuclear metabolism in the immune system during aging in a sex-depended manner.

matilda.pfeiffer@crg.eu

Alisa Schmidt, MSc

PHD STUDENT

Alisa completed her BSc degree in Microbiology and Genetics at the University of Vienna. Her interest in innovative research and genetics led her to join the master’s program in Molecular Precision Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. She joined the Sdelci Lab in February 2024, and completed her Master’s internship, focusing on understanding the role of IMPDH2, a metabolic enzyme, in the nucleus. Following a very successful Masters defence, Alisa is now a PhD student in our lab.

alisa.schmidt@crg.eu

Carolina Toro Marquez, BSc

msc STUDENT
Carolina..

carolina.toro@crg.eu

Tiba Vinck, BSc

msc STUDENT

Tiba completed her BSc degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Amsterdam. She is currently undertaking a joint internship between our lab and the Smith Lab at the University of Barcelona (UB), where she is investigating the recruitment of metabolic proteins to chromatin within the context of the circadian cycle. This research forms part of her Masters’ program in Cancer, Stem Cells, and Developmental Biology at Utrecht University.

tiba.vinck@crg.eu

Anna Benito i Ferrer, BSc

MSC  STUDENT

Anna completed her BSc in Biomedicine at Universitat de Barcelona and her MSc in Multidisciplinary Research in Experimental Sciences at the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST). She joined our lab and Janic’s lab (UPF) to develop her master thesis and is now a joint PhD between both labs where she is focused on targeting nucleotide metabolism in p53-deficient lung cancer.

anna.benito@crg.eu

Albert Coll Manzano

Research technician
Coming soon 
 

albert.coll@crg.eu

Lorena Espinar, PhD

research technician

Coming soon.

lorena.espinar@crg.eu

Chiara Barbera, MSc

Visiting PhD  STUDENT

Maria Chiara joined the lab as a visiting PhD student from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan. She explores how inhibiting a specific microRNA can ‘rejuvenate’ healthy cells in vitro by reorganizing their chromatin and restoring a more youthful epigenetic state. In our lab, she aims to decode the metabolic pathways that drive this rejuvenation, ultimately revealing how metabolism and epigenetic remodeling intersect to influence aging.

mariachiara.barbera@crg.eu

Alumni

Maria Guirola, Lab manager
Lorena espinar, Lab Manager
Chiara Cannatá, Technician
laura garcia, technician
evangelina darai, technician
debayan datta, Bioinformatician
anestis gkanogiannis, bioinformatician
Ilir SHeraj, Bioinformatician
Laura pascual, Post doc
Johanna albers, MSC student
Marta garcia-cao, post doc
Natalia Pardo, PhD student 
Savvas Kourtis, phd student
Rabia Gül Aydin, MSc student
shubhamay das, MSc student
uldana dildabayeva, msc student
Remi badia, MSC student
Milena Ivanisevic, BSc student
carla aranda, BSc student
RITOBRATA GHOSE, PHD STUDENT