Scientific report 2025
Discover our impact this year
Human embryo development in 2D and 3D.
President’s Letter
2025 was an important year for the Carlos Simon Foundation. We defined our 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, a roadmap to guide our growth and strengthen our scientific, organizational, and educational priorities.
We also held the first meeting of our Scientific Advisory Board, formed by international experts. Their perspective helped us review our research lines, clinical translation strategy, and future opportunities.
This report reflects the work of a team committed to generating knowledge, training talent, and improving women’s health through research.
Thank you to all the people and institutions who made this possible.
Dr. Carlos Simon
President of the Carlos Simon Foundation
Our Mission and Pillars
Our mission is to improve women’s health through three core pillars
Biomedical Research
We conduct high-quality biomedical research in women’s health.
Translation
We bring scientific knowledge closer to clinical practice and society.
Education
We share our knowledge and institutional culture with new generations.
Scientific Advisory Board and 2025-2030 Strategic Plan
In 2025, we held the first meeting of our Scientific Advisory Board, formed by international experts.
Their perspective helped us review our research lines and the Foundation’s new Strategic Plan for 2025-2030.
Strategic priorities
Scientific excellence
Organization
Financial sustainability
Education
People
Communication
2025 in Numbers
In 2025, we maintained strong scientific activity, with active projects, high-impact publications, and a budget focused on advancing women’s health.
Team and Talent
In 2025, we had a multidisciplinary team of 37 professionals, including scientific, technical, and management profiles.
Funding
In 2025, we had an R&D budget of 4M euros, which allowed us to sustain our scientific activity and develop new projects.
Featured Projects with Competitive Funding in 2025
The full list of active competitive projects is available here
- Preventing lifetime obesity by early risk-factor identification, prognosis, and intervention. European Commission; Horizon Europe Program, EPROBES (101080219-2); PI: Carlos Simon / Felip Vilella. Duration: 05/01/2023 to 04/30/2028. Amount: EUR 480,072.50.
- Identification of progenitor cells in the human endometrium and demonstration of their regenerative capacity. Spanish State Research Agency (AEI); Consolidation Program CNS2022-135696; PI: Felip Vilella. Duration: 07/01/2023 to 06/30/2025. Amount: EUR 198,986.00.
- Deciphering a microbial footprint leading to the onset and long-term risk of preeclampsia (PREMIC). Regional Ministry of Education; PROMETEO Program CIPROM/2022/41; PIs: Carlos Simon, Tamara Garrido, and Inmaculada Moreno. Duration: 01/01/2023 to 12/31/2026. Amount: EUR 600,000.00.
- Grants to attract European projects and other international programs (Aymara ERC preparation). Regional Ministry of Education; APE 2023 CIAPE/2022/7; PI: Aymara Mas. Duration: 06/01/2023 to 12/31/2024. Amount: EUR 9,000.00.
- Identification of maternal cellular and molecular targets at single-cell level for early prediction and treatment of preeclampsia. Spanish State Research Agency (AEI); Knowledge Generation Program PID2022-140744OB-I00; PIs: Carlos Simon and Tamara Garrido. Duration: 09/01/2023 to 08/31/2027. Amount: EUR 383,750.00.
- Effect of CD133 bone marrow-derived stem cells on the maternal-fetal interface in patients with Asherman syndrome. American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM); KY Cha Award 2023; PI: Xavier Santamaria. Duration: 09/01/2023 to 08/31/2025. Amount: USD 18,338.53.
- Identification of progenitor cells in human endometrial tissue. Regional Ministry of Education; AICO 2023 CIAICO/2022/242; PI: Felip Vilella. Duration: 01/01/2023 to 12/31/2025. Amount: EUR 90,000.00.
- Tumor heterogeneity inferred by single-cell RNA sequencing: new insights into the therapeutic target of uterine tumors. Carlos III Health Institute; Health Research Projects PI23/00536; PI: Aymara Mas. Duration: 01/01/2024 to 12/30/2026. Amount: EUR 226,875.00.
- Study of the molecular and epigenetic mechanisms driving ovarian aging. Regional Ministry of Education; Emerging Research Groups Program CIGE/2023/217; PI: Ana Monteagudo. Duration: 07/16/2024 to 07/15/2026. Amount: EUR 20,000.00.
- Impact of the microbiome on the pathogenesis of ovarian endometriosis. Carlos III Health Institute; Health Research Projects PI24/00722; PI: Inmaculada Moreno. Duration: 01/01/2025 to 12/31/2027. Amount: EUR 215,000.00.
- Ovarian rejuvenation through partial cellular reprogramming. Carlos III Health Institute; Health Research Projects PI24/01784; PI: Felip Vilella. Duration: 01/01/2025 to 12/31/2027. Amount: EUR 190,000.00.
Research Lines
Scientific Output
In 2025, we published 9 scientific papers, 6 of them in D1 journals, in key areas such as preeclampsia, embryology, endometrium, microbiome, and gynecological tumors.
Featured Publications
The full list of scientific publications is available here
- Muñoz-Blat I, Pérez-Moraga R, Castillo-Marco N, Cordero T, Ochando A, Ortega-Sanchís S, Parras-Moltó M, Monfort-Ortiz R, Satorres-Perez E, Novillo B, Perales A, Gormley M, Granados-Aparici S, Noguera R, Roson B, Fisher SJ, Simón C, Garrido-Gómez T. Multi-omics-based mapping of decidualization resistance in patients with a history of severe preeclampsia. Nat Med. 2025 Feb;31(2):502-513. doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-03407-7. Epub 2025 Jan 7. PMID: 39775038; PMCID: PMC11835751.
- Castillo-Marco N, Cordero T, Igual M, Muñoz-Blat I, Gómez-Álvarez C, Bernat-González N, Gaspar-Doménech Á, Ortiz-Domingo É, Vives A, Ortega-Sanchís S, Monfort-Ortiz R, Volkov P, Delgado JL, Hernandez-Hernandez L, Canovas E, Gil MDM, Santacruz B, Gonzalez-Gonzalez NL, Plasencia W, Perales-Marín A, Marcos-Puig B, Palacios-Marqués AM, Melchor Í, Martin-Martinez A, Benitez-Delgado T; PREMOM Consortium; Simón C, Garrido-Gómez T. Maternal plasma cell-free RNA as a predictor of early and late-onset preeclampsia throughout pregnancy. Nat Commun. 2025 Oct 20;16(1):9208. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-64215-2. PMID: 41115885; PMCID: PMC12537965.
- Akizawa H, Domingo-Muelas A, Pardo-Figuerez M, Hernandez B, Ardestani G, Skory RM, Venturas M, Tetlak P, Bissiere S, Sakkas D, Simon C, Plachta N. Capturing aberrant cell behaviors producing defects in human embryos via live imaging. Sci Adv. 2025 Nov 21;11(47):eady6402. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ady6402. Epub 2025 Nov 19. PMID: 41259532; PMCID: PMC12629204.
- Gonzalez-Fernandez J, Zaragozano S, Monteagudo-Sánchez A, Simon C, Vilella F. Single-cell technology: the key to an improved understanding of the human endometrium in health and disease. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2025 Apr;232(4S):S43-S53. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2024.08.042. PMID: 40253082.
- Pardo-Figuerez M, Simon C, Santamaria X. Asherman syndrome at single-cell resolution. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2025 Apr;232(4S):S148-S159. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2024.12.023. PMID: 40253078.
- Graciano-España MC, Barnhart K, Gonzalez-Monfort M, Arenas-Barrero M, Legro RS, Thomas TR, Rush MA, Vilella F, Fernández-Sánchez M, Simon C, Moreno I. Fusobacterium nucleatum is not significantly present in eutopic endometrium from patients with minimal-mild and moderate-severe endometriosis. Fertil Steril. 2025 Nov 15;124(5 Pt 2):1071-1081. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2025.06.035. Epub 2025 Jun 28. PMID: 40588151; PMCID: PMC12416407.
- Boldu-Fernández S, Lliberos C, Simon C, Mas A. Mapping Human Uterine Disorders Through Single-Cell Transcriptomics. Cells. 2025 Jan 21;14(3):156. doi: 10.3390/cells14030156. PMID: 39936948; PMCID: PMC11817058.
- Ruiz-Alonso M, Gómez C, Stankewicz T, Castellón JA, Díez-Juan A, Gómez E, Rubio C, Simón C, Valbuena D. Clinical outcomes following endometrial receptivity assessment-guided personalized euploid embryo transfer in patients with previous implantation failures. Sci Rep. 2025 May 15;15(1):16967. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-01056-5. PMID: 40374667; PMCID: PMC12081615.
- Daskeviciute D, Chappell-Maor L, Sainty B, Arnaud P, Iglesias-Platas I, Simon C, Okae H, Arima T, Vassena R, Lartey J, Monk D. Non-canonical imprinting, manifesting as post-fertilization placenta-specific parent-of-origin dependent methylation, is not conserved in humans. Hum Mol Genet. 2025 Mar 20;34(7):626-638. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddaf009. PMID: 39825493; PMCID: PMC11924184.
Congress Participation
We shared our results at national and international congresses in reproductive medicine and women’s health.
Featured Participations
The full list of congress participation is available here
- 29th Brazilian Congress of Assisted Reproduction – CBRA, Brazil. 2025. 3 Invited Lectures
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). District XII & V Annual District Meeting, USA. 2025. Plenary Lecture
- 30th anniversary of the Chedid Grieco Reproductive Medicine Clinic, Brazil. 2025. Invited Lecture
- Chilean Society of Reproductive Medicine (SOCMER), Chile. 2025. Invited Lecture
- Quito Institute of Infertility and Reproductive Medicine (IQUI), Ecuador. 2025. Invited Lecture
- Vitrolife Group, Germany. 2025. Invited Lecture
- Endometriosis Worldwide March & American and Global College of Endometriosis Specialists, Atlanta, USA. 2025. Invited Lecture
- 2025 INNOVATE, American Society of Reproductive Medicine, San Antonio, Texas, USA. 2025. Invited Lecture
- Society for Endometriosis and Uterine Disorders (SEUD), Prague, Czech Republic. 2025. Invited Lecture
- 25 Aniversario Escuela de Empresarios (EDEM). Valencia, Spain. 1 Invited Lecture.
- Fertypharm. Spain. 1 Invited Lecture.
- Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC). 1 Invited Lecture.
- Society for Gynecologic Investigation Annual Meeting. Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. 3 Oral Presentations (1 Awarded),
2 Posters presentations.
- European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Annual Meeting.. Paris, France. 2 Oral Presentations Awarded
- American Society for Reproductive Medicine Annual Meeting.. San Antonio Texas, USA. 2025. 1 Poster presentation.
Innovation and Knowledge Transfer
We continued to promote the transfer of scientific knowledge into new technologies, therapies, and diagnostic tools.
Strategic Collaborations
We work with universities, hospitals, research centers, and companies to expand the reach of our research.
Education and Training
We train new generations of scientists and professionals through university programs, our own educational initiatives, and doctoral supervision.
In-House Training Programs
Doctoral Theses Defended
- Using organoids to decipher endometrial regeneration in Asherman syndrome patients. PhD student: Javier Gonzalez | Directors: Felipe Vilella, Xavier Santamaria, Carlos Simon
Media Impact
Our research appeared in general and specialized media, helping bring science closer to patients, professionals, and society.
Our research in the media
Awards and Recognition
In 2025, we received scientific and institutional recognition and continued to promote our own awards to support research excellence.
Recognition Received
The full list of awards received is available here
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41st European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, ESHRE. Paris, France. Clinical Science Award granted to Dr. Nerea Castillo for the work Maternal plasma cell-free RNA as a liquid biopsy for first-trimester screening of early and late-onset preeclampsia.
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41st European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, ESHRE. Paris, France. Basic Science Award granted to Sofia Zaragozano for the work Modeling embryonic adhesion at cellular resolution within a microfluidic endometrium-on-a-chip platform.
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72nd Society for Gynecologic Investigation Annual Meeting. Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. President’s Presenter Award granted to Maria Pardo for the work Human Blastocyst Invasion in a 3D In Vitro Endometrial Model.
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Premis Universitat-Societat 2025, Social Council of the University of Valencia. Knowledge Transfer category awarded to Dr. Carlos Simon for his merits in knowledge transfer.
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3rd edition of the INCLIVA Awards for Women Researchers. First prize in the Postdoctoral category awarded to Ana Monteagudo for her scientific merits.
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3rd edition of the INCLIVA Awards for Women Researchers. First prize in the Doctoral Student category awarded to Sofia Zaragozano for her scientific merits.
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Commemorative event for the 525th anniversary of the University of Valencia. Recognition granted to the Carlos Simon Foundation for its outstanding record of collaboration in the cultural, healthcare, educational, and research fields.
Awards Granted
”In 2025, we defined a clear roadmap for the Carlos Simon Foundation: to consolidate excellent science, open to collaboration and focused on improving women’s health.
