Judit
Guasch Camell
Max Planck Partner Group Leader

Contact data:
Biography
Judith Guasch received her PhD in Materials Science (Chemistry dep.) in 2011 from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), working at the Materials Science Institute of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC). Afterwards, she carried out postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Stuttgart, Germany) funded with an Intra-European Fellowship from the Marie Curie Actions (EU). In 2016, she returned to ICMAB-CSIC after being awarded with a TecnioSpring fellowship (Marie Curie Fellow, Cofund – Catalan Government and EU), where she started the new research line "Dynamic Biomimetics for Cancer Immunotherapy". In 2019, Dr. Guasch was awarded with a "Ramón y Cajal" contract and since 2017 she is also Head of a Max Planck Partner Group (Dynamic Biomimetics for Cancer Immunotherapy, https://dynamic-biomimetics.icmab.es/) in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research (Heidelberg, Germany).
Research interest
We are focused on the design, synthesis, and fabrication of novel bionanomaterials for biomedical applications. Special efforts are devoted to engineer artificial tissues and organs related with the human immune system such as the lymph nodes to help improve novel cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.
University Degrees:
Chemistry. 2006, University of Barcelona
Doctorates:
Materials Science (Chemistry). 2011, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and Materials Science Institute of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC)
Most significative academic merits:
• Ramón y Cajal Researcher, Spanish Government. 09/2019-08/2024.
• Max Planck Partner Group: “Dynamic Biomimetics for Cancer Immunotherapy”, Max Planck Society (Germany). 02/2017-06/2022.
• Marie Curie Actions - Cofund: “Biomimetic Lymph Nodes for Cancer Immunotherapy (Immuno Dynamics)”, Catalan Government and European Union (Cofund). 03/2016-03/2018.
• Marie Curie Actions - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF): “Orthogonally Functionalized Binary Nanopatterned Polymeric Substrates for T cell activation and proliferation in Cancer Immunotherapy (OFB-SCI)”, European Union (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF; Individual grant). 04/2013-03/2015.
Awards:
• “A European Award For A Doctoral Thesis on Molecular Magnetism” from the European Institute on Molecular Magnetism for the PhD thesis (2014). • “St. Jordi’s Awards” from the Institute of Catalan Studies (Catalan Chemical Society) for the MSc thesis and PhD Research Proposal (2009).Scientific Highlights:
E. Pérez Del Río, F. Santos, X. Rodriguez Rodriguez, M. Martínez-Miguel, R. Roca-Pinilla, A. Arís, E. Garcia-Fruitós, J. Veciana, J. P. Spatz, I. Ratera, J. Guasch. CCL21-loaded 3D hydrogels for T cell expansion and differentiation. Biomaterials, 259 (2020), 120313.
A. Sales, K. Ende, J. Diemer, A. R. Kyvik, J. Veciana, I. Ratera, R. Kemkemer, J. P. Spatz, J. Guasch. Cell Type-Dependent Integrin Distribution in Adhesion and Migration Responses on Protein-Coated Microgrooved Substrates. ACS Omega, 4(1), (2019) 1791-1800.
J. Guasch, M. Hoffmann, J. Diemer, H. Riahinezhad, S. Neubauer, H. Kessler, J. P. Spatz. Combining Adhesive Nanostructured Surfaces and Costimulatory Signals to Increase T Cell Activation. Nano Lett., 18(9) (2018) 5899-5904.
E. Pérez del Río, M. Martinez Miguel, J. Veciana, I. Ratera, J. Guasch. Artificial 3D Culture Systems for T Cell Expansion. ACS Omega, 3(5) (2018) 5273-5280.
J. Guasch, C. A. Muth, J. Diemer, H. Riahinezhad, J. P. Spatz. Integrin-assisted T cell Activation on Nanostructured Hydrogels. Nano Lett., 17(10) (2017) 6110-6117.
J. Guasch, J. Diemer, H. Riahinezhad, S. Neubauer, H. Kessler, J. P. Spatz. Synthesis of Binary Nanopatterns on Hydrogels for Initiating Cellular Responses. Chem. Mater., 28(6) (2016) 1806-1815.
J. Guasch, B. Conings, S. Neubauer, F. Rechenmacher, K. Ende, C. G. Rolli, C. Kappel, V. Schaufler, A. Micoulet, H. Kessler, H. –G. Boyen, A. E. Cavalcanti-Adam, J. P. Spatz. Segregation versus Colocalization: Orthogonally Functionalized Binary Micropatterned Substrates regulate the Molecular Distribution in Focal Adhesions. Adv. Mater., 27(25) (2015) 3737-3747.