Michael N.

PhD Researcher in Immunology | Cell Therapy | Kidney Transplantation | MSCA Fellow

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

About

PhD student in Immunology, currently funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) fellowship at FRCB-IDIBAPS. My research focuses on immune mechanisms underlying kidney transplantation outcomes, with particular emphasis on antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) and the clinical and immunological impact of extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) and other cell-based therapies. My work bridges basic immunology and translational research, leveraging longitudinal patient data to identify immune signatures associated with treatment response and graft outcomes. I hold an MSc in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and previously trained at the IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele (Telethon Institute) within the Protein Signalling in Brain Physiology and Pathology Unit, where I worked on ubiquitin-like proteins (UBLs) in neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. I subsequently joined the Quantitative Biology Lab at IFOM, further strengthening my expertise in molecular biology and data-driven research approaches. Technical expertise includes single-cell and bulk transcriptomics, advanced cytometry, immunofluorescence, super-resolution microscopy, protein biochemistry, and statistical modeling of complex biomedical data, with a strong interest in clinically oriented, mechanism-driven research.

Experience

  • Doctoral Researcher at Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)
    Nov 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 9 mos

    Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions PhD fellow Laboratori Experimental de Nefrologia i Trasplantament (LENIT) During my PhD, I'm focusing on studying the application of extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) in preventing kidney transplant rejection in highly sensitized patients. Thanks to an ongoing clinical study and approaches such as scRNA-seq and mass cytometry, the objetives are to define the molecular changes induced by the therapy and identify biomarkers for monitoring and effective stratify patients.

  • Health Economics and Market Access Intern at THERAKOS (UK), LTD
    May 2026 - Jun 2026 · 2 mos

  • Visiting Research Fellow at Sanquin
    May 2025 - Jul 2025 · 3 mos

    During this 3-months research stay, I am investigating how dialysis affects B cell function in patients on the kidney transplant waiting list. My work involves B cell isolation, in vitro culture and differentiation, combined with advanced immunophenotyping through spectral flow cytometry.

  • Research Fellow at IFOM
    Apr 2023 - Aug 2023 · 5 mos

    Laboratory of "Quantitative Biology of Cell Division". I have taken part in a project with the goal of unraveling the molecular mechanisms that contribute to resistance to anticancer drugs that target cellular DNA. In particular, my work focuses on studying how different breast and lung cancer cell lines evade cellular arrest and apoptosis through TRIAP1 over-expression.

  • Research Intern in Neuroscience at Hospital San Raffaele
    Mar 2022 - Mar 2023 · 1 yr 1 mo

    I worked in the "Protein Signalling in Brain Physiology and Pathology" unit (Telethon Lab), as part of several projects investigating the role of Ubiquitin-like Proteins in different neurodegenerative and rare neurodevelopmental disorders.