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Carlos Simon Cover
President

Carlos Simon M.D., Ph.D.

Carlos Simon is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Valencia (Spain), Senior Lecturer PT, BIDMC Harvard University, USA, and President of the Carlos Simon Foundation, Spain.

His main clinical and scientific interest focuses on understanding human embryonic implantation, a critical process to the survival of the species, by considering the embryo, the maternal endometrium, and their cross-communication as crucial elements.

He discovered a transcriptomic signature of human endometrial receptivity using microarray technology (PMID: 20619403), which was later confirmed by single-cell RNA sequencing (PMID: 32929266). Clinical translation of this research resulted in a patent for the creation of the endometrial receptivity analysis (ERA) to diagnose the personalized window of implantation in infertile patients. He provided evidence of a decidualization defect in the endometrium of women with severe preeclampsia, a pathology detectable at the time of delivery and persisting for years (PMC: 5635883). Furthermore, he also discovered the footprint encoding this defect (PMC: 8553341). He next demonstrated that the human uterine cavity is not sterile by reporting the existence of the endometrial microbiome (PMID: 27717732) and its functional implications in pregnancy (PMC: 8725275). He also discovered the existence and provided functional proof of concept for the existence of human endometrial stem cells; of note, these findings are being translated into the first advanced cellular therapy for Asherman’s Syndrome (PMID: 27005892) (EudraCT Number: 2016-003975-23). For the human embryo, he created a prediction model for aneuploidy in early embryo development revealed by single-cell analysis (PMID: 26151134), deciphered the clinical impact of embryo mosaicism (PMCID: PMC8715143), and discovered the origin and composition of human embryo cell-free DNA (PMID: 29471395) and its clinical implications (PMID: 32470458). His team derived, characterized, and registered ten human embryonic stem cell lines now in the Spanish National Stem Cell Bank. (PMID: 20018958). His pioneering work in this field made possible the creation of the Valencia Node of the Spanish Stem Cell Bank in 2004. Finally, he addressed cross-communication between the maternal endometrium and the embryo (PMID: 29390102), discovering that maternal microRNAs might act as a transcriptomic modifier of the pre-implantation embryo (PMID: 26395145).

His commitment to excellence in research is demonstrated by the publication of over 500 papers (PubMed) in peer-reviewed journals. His papers have received around 50,000 citations, and he has a Google Scholar H-index of 129. He has edited 21 books in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and supervised 40 Ph.D. theses. Several scientific societies and institutions have awarded his research, including the Rey Jaime I Medical Research Award in 2011, the ASRM Distinguished Research Award in 2016, the Lilly Foundation Biomedical Research Award in 2021, and the Royal National Academy of Medicine of Spain’s Translational Medical Research Award in 2023.

His commitment to excellence in clinical care is demonstrated by his instrumental role as a clinician and scientific director in establishing the clinical practice and research program of the IVI from 1994 to 2018 (www.ivirma.es). As an inventor and entrepreneur, his research has generated 17 patent applications that enabled the creation of Igenomix S.L. in 2011. He was a founder and chief science officer (CSO), leading a scientific/medical team of 120 Ph.D. students worldwide until Igenomix was acquired by Vitrolife in 2021, a biotech company devoted to precision medicine in reproductive health through advanced reproductive genetic diagnoses with an international footprint on all continents.

Bibliography: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
ResearcherID: G-2186-2014
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.es
Personal Website: www.carlos-simon.com

Felipe Vilella Cover
Vice-President & Senior Principal Investigator

Felipe Vilella, Ph.D.

Felipe Vilella, a Ph.D. in molecular biology, is the consolidated group leader of the Maternal Fetal Crosstalk Laboratory at INCLIVA/Carlos Simon Foundation. He performed two post-doctoral positions, one in the Clinical Science Centre of the MRC in London (UK) and the other in the Centro de Investigaciones Principe Felipe in Valencia (Spain). He was a visiting researcher for five years at Stanford University (USA) and two years at Harvard University (USA).

His main scientific interest focuses on understanding the communication mechanisms occurring between the mother and the embryo and elucidating how the mother can genetically modify the preimplantation embryo.

His research was the first to demonstrate the transmission of genetic information from the mother to the preimplantation embryo, demonstrating that the mother can modify the embryo transcriptomically and/or epigenetically, regardless of its genetic background (PMID: 26395145). He studied the effect of microRNAs and mitochondrial DNA secreted by endometrial cells on the embryo (PMID: 31665361; PMID: 29390102). He also focuses on understanding the implantation process, elucidating how endometrial cells communicate with each other at the single-cell level (PMID: 32929266).

He has published over 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals with an accumulated impact factor of 327.46. His papers have been cited 2,847 times with an average of 67.78 citations/paper. He has an H-Index of 26, has published 12 book chapters, and has directed 6 Ph.D. theses. He has participated in over 16 international projects, being an independent principal investigator in 11. He has participated as an invited speaker at over 80 international conferences.

ResearcherID: C-2970-2018

Xavier Santamaria Cover
Vice-President & Senior Clinical Scientist

Xavier Santamaria M.D., Ph.D.

Xavier Santamaria M.D., Ph.D. is a Board Ob/Gyn specialist in Reproductive Medicine. He obtained a post-graduate fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Yale University (USA) and completed his Ph.D. at the Universitat Autònoma Barcelona (Spain). Dr. Santamaria was the Director of the International Department at the IVI between 2012 and 2016. In 2016, he joined Dr. Simon’s Research group as a Senior Principal Investigator, where he has developed his research related to Asherman’s Syndrome.

His main clinical and scientific interest is in understanding the regenerative capacity of the human endometrium and developing strategies to regenerate the endometrium to improve embryo implantation.

His group was the first to complete a trial using human bone marrow stem cells to treat Asherman’s syndrome and endometrial atrophy (PMID: 27005892) demonstrating this approach’s feasibility in treating endometrial pathologies. As a result, CD133+ cells have been designed as the first Orphan Drug (ODD) by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the field of gynecological research. Dr. Santamaria has also participated as an inventor in 7 different patent applications, and is a co-founder and scientific director of 4 different start-up companies.

He has published 27 papers in peer-reviewed journals (H-index of 15) and 12 book chapters. He has been an invited speaker at more than 70 international conferences and was awarded the prize for Best Oral Presentation for Young Investigators at the Society of Gynecological Investigation Meeting in 2009. He has directed one doctoral thesis.

ResearcherID: D-7856-2018

Inmaculada Moreno Cover
Senior Principal Investigator

Inmaculada Moreno, Ph.D.

Inmaculada Moreno is a Senior Principal Investigator at the Carlos Simon Foundation for Research in Women’s Health, where she develops basic and translational research projects regarding the impact of the microbiome in human reproduction.

Her main scientific interest is understanding how microorganisms impact embryo implantation, pregnancy success, and women’s health in general.

She demonstrated the existence of the endometrial microbiota (PMID: 27717732) and reported an association between the microbiome and reproductive outcomes in infertile patients (PMID: 34980280). Furthermore, she studied the functional impact of bacteria present in the endometrium in reproductive failure (PMID: 31653041) and, for the first time, during early successful pregnancy (PMID: 32057732). Her research also focuses on improving diagnostic methods for chronic endometritis, a subclinical infection of the endometrium with adverse effects on fertility (PMID: 29477653), and searching for potential probiotics for endometrial health (PMID: 31058101).

Dr. Moreno has more than 15 years of professional experience in molecular microbiology and biochemistry. From 2015 to 2018, she collaborated with the Reproductive and Stem Cell Biology laboratory at Stanford University School of Medicine as a Visiting Scholar. She has been productive in basic and clinical research with over 40 published papers in peer-reviewed journals with an accumulated impact factor of 320.78. Her papers have been cited 2,294 times with an average of 52.13 citations/paper, and she has an H-Index of 24. She has published 5 invited book chapters, including the Encyclopedia of Reproduction, and has participated in over 100 international conferences.

ResearcherID: D-3955-2018

Tamara Garrido Cover
Senior Principal Investigator

Tamara Garrido, Ph.D.

Dr. Garrido is a molecular biologist focusing on endometrial physiology, specifically decidualization, the first steps of embryo invasion and placentation (PMID: 21190976). She graduated in Biological Sciences (2007) and received her Ph.D. qualification in molecular biology (2012) from the University of Valencia (Spain).

Her post-doctoral training (2.5 years) was developed in the laboratory of Susan Fisher at UCSF (USA) before forming part of the INCLIVA Biomedical Research Institute in 2013. Her post-doctoral investigations allowed her to gain expertise in uterine contributions to pregnancy complications, mainly focusing on preeclampsia (PMID: 28923940; PMID: 34709177).

She has published more than 17 high-impact peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals such as PNAS, eLife, Development, and the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology (AJOG) and has participated in over 20 international conferences. She supervises medical students in their final projects, directs Ph.D. theses, and participates in national and international projects.

She is currently the Senior principal investigator in the R&D department at Carlos Simon Foundation and the scientific manager at iPremom Pregnancy HealthCare Diagnostics S.L. Her primary research focuses on uterine contributions to preeclampsia and main pregnancy complications for their early detection and the development of novel therapies.

ResearcherID: B-6551-2017

Aymara Mas Cover
Senior Principal Investigator

Aymara Mas, Ph.D.

Dr. Aymara Mas is Senior Principal Investigator at the Carlos Simon Foundation and Miguel Servet Researcher (ISCIII) at the INCLIVA Health Research Institute, Valencia (Spain)

Her research focuses on understanding the factors contributing to the pathophysiology of benign and malignant gynecologic tumors, including smooth muscle tumors and uterine and ovarian cancer.

Dr. Mas performed an international post-doctoral fellowship for 2 years at Augusta University (Georgia, USA), primarily studying uterine disorders, completing her Ph.D. training at La Fe Health Research Institute, Valencia (Spain), with a Sara Borrel Grant (ISCIII).

Over the past 10 years, she has made significant contributions including the functional proof of concept for the existence of somatic stem cells (SSCs) in the human myometrium and uterine leiomyomas (PMID: 24890270) based on side population methods (PMID: 22633281) and specific biomarkers (PMID: 25989979; PMID: 28395335). She also collaborated with many groups to study the role of steroid hormone receptors (PMID: 27739139), signaling pathways (PMID: 30075150), and genetic (PMID: 25542836) and epigenetic alterations (PMID: 25922306) in the pathogenesis and growth of uterine leiomyomas, looking further into new approaches to improve the efficacy of gene therapy against these benign tumors (PMID: 27020169). She has also revealed, through integrative genomic and transcriptomic profiling, the differential molecular signature of uterine leiomyoma versus leiomyosarcoma tumors (PMID: 31121144; PMID: 35216305), giving rise to 2 patent applications.

Her commitment to research excellence has been demonstrated by an established record of 9 research projects (5 as principal investigator) and 30 basic and translational publications in peer-reviewed journals from an area of high relevance, such as female reproductive health, specifically in uterine leiomyomas. She has participated in national and international grants and has been internationally awarded by the Society of Reproductive Investigation (SRI) and the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). She also guides Medicine Degree students in their final projects and Ph.D. students.

Nowadays, her team uses high-throughput sequencing technologies to identify molecular biomarkers associated with tumor growth and progression and develop predictive models that allow non-invasive therapeutic and preventive strategies.

ResearcherID: E-4409-2018