Rubén Francés has a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the Miguel Hernández University. He was a Postdoctoral Researcher between the years 2003-2005 at the Boston Medical Center, Boston, USA, and a Researcher of the Spain’s National Health System between the years 2006-2018. He is currently Professor of Immunology in the Department of Clinical Medicine at Miguel Hernández University and Head of the Hepatic and Intestinal Immunobiology Group. He is the author of numerous international publications and has coordinated competitive research projects funded by different agencies continuously since 2006. His main line of research focuses on the immunobiology of bacterial translocation and inflammation in the gut-liver axis, with a multidisciplinary approach aimed at understanding the interaction between the microbiome and the Immune System and identifying new potentially useful targets in the recovery of homeostasis in advanced chronic liver disease and in inflammatory bowel disease.

Rubén enjoys traveling, listening to music and practicing his favorite sport, tennis.

ORCID: 0000-0001-5105-1201

Esther Caparrós graduated in Biology in 1998 at the University of Alicante. She worked in the Department of Clinical Medicine of the Miguel Hernández University, in the Biological Research Center of Madrid and in the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology of the University of Murcia, where she received his doctorate in Immunology in 2005. From 2005 to 2009 she worked in the Neuroscience Institute of Alicante as a postdoctoral researcher. She obtained a scholarship to work at the MRC-LMB in Cambridge in 2008 and stayed at the Centro de Estudos de Doenças Crónicas (CEDOC) in Oeiras, Portugal, in 2013. She joined the Department of Clinical Medicine as Professor of Immunology in 2009. She has collaborated with different research groups, and since 2015 she is part of the Hepatic and Intestinal Immunobiology Group of the Miguel Hernández University.

Her main line of research focuses on understanding inflammation in the gut-liver axis, with a multidisciplinary approach aimed at understanding the interaction between the microbiome and the Immune System and identifying new potentially useful targets in the recovery of homeostasis in chronic liver disease and in inflammatory bowel disease.

Esther really likes music, reading and playing sports in her spare time.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9681-0408

Pedro Zapater has a PhD in Medicine and Surgery from the Autonomous University of Madrid. He is currently Professor of Pharmacology in the Department of Pharmacology, Pediatrics and Organic Chemistry at Miguel Hernández University and Head of the Clinical Pharmacology Section of the General University Hospital Dr. Balmis in Alicante. He is the author of numerous international publications and has coordinated competitive research projects funded by different agencies continuously since 2005. His main line of research focuses on the study of the immunoregulatory activity of the autonomic nervous system and its relationship with chronic inflammatory processes such as advanced chronic liver disease, as well as the study of drugs capable of modulating this activity.

Pedro enjoys walking, reading and watching movies at the cinema. 

ORCID: 0000-0001-7927-858X

Ana Gutiérrez has a PhD in Medicine and Surgery from the Miguel Hernández University. She is currently Head of Section and Head of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Unit in Gastroenterology Department at General Hospital of Alicante. She is currently vice-president and national teaching coordinator of the Spanish Working Group on Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis (GETECCU), becoming president of the group in October 2022. She is the author of numerous international publications, and her research activity focuses on the immunobiology of bacterial translocation and inflammation in inflammatory bowel as well as other clinical settings as epidemiology, sexuality, and sexual dysfunction in IBD.

Ana enjoys traveling and spending free time with family and friends.

ORCID: 0000-0002-5460-4139

Isabel Gómez-Hurtado has a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Murcia University since 2002. She worked as a clinical veterinarian for 7 years, but in 2009 her career took a turn and she began in the biomedical research world. She has a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the Miguel Hernández University, and is currently contracted by the Liver and Intestinal Diseases Network Biomedical Research Center, being responsible for the work with experimental animals in the Liver and Intestinal Immunobiology Group. She is the author of numerous international publications and has directed two competitive research projects at national and regional level.

Isabel is passionate about animals, and enjoys spending her free time with her family, especially her two little girls.

ORCID: 0000-0003-4305-9427

Bachelor Degree in Biotechnology (2015-2019) and MSc. In Biotechnology and Bioengineering (2019-2020) both titles obtained at Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche (UMH). Enrique Ángel Gomis is currently Research Staff at UMH, hired as Predoctoral Researcher at Hepatic and Intestinal Immunology Group after being awarded beneficiary of the Predoctoral Researchers’ Hiring Grant Programme (ACIF/2021/026) of Generalitat Valenciana. The investigation line in which his thesis is developed, associated to the Molecular and Cellular Biology PhD Programme, mainly studies hepatic immunobiology during the progression of chronic hepatic disease, specifically investigating epigenetic regulatory mechanisms involved in the expression of protein LSECtin: a lectin with an important immunomodulatory effect that plays a pivotal role in T cell activity restriction in the course of hepatic damage.

Interested in science since a kid due to his innate curiosity, Enrique is an energic, attentive and reliable person who loves doing sport, reading and listening to music.

ORCID: 0000-0003-0736-7625

Paula is Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Technician. After her intership training with the Translational Neuropsychopharmacology group of the Institute of Neuroscience in 2017, Paula began working for the ISABIAL Foundation 2018 – 2021 (University General Hospital of Alicante) in the CIBERehd Department (Network Biomedical Research Center) collaborating in several research projects related to the thematic area of ​​Liver and Digestive Diseases. 

Currently she is working as research staff for the Miguel Hernández University through a grant from the PROMETEO program for research groups of excellence (PROMETEO/2021/033) and collaborating externally in the IBIMED Association to support active research projects in the research group of Hepatic and Intestinal Inmunobiology of the Department of Clinical Medicine of the UMH.

In her free time, Paula enjoys a good book on the beach, travelling and spending time with her Friends and family.

ORCID: 0000-0003-2857-9790

Liang Hong graduated from Dalian Medical University in China and is currently working in the Department of Gastroenterology at the Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University. His research primarily focuses on the treatment of intestinal strictures in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). He has developed expertise in colonoscopy diagnosis and treatment techniques and is now concentrating on the biological immunotherapy of intestinal strictures in IBD patients.

To further his work, Liang Hong pursued opportunities in Alicante, where he is engaged in Ph.D. studies and IBD-related immunological experiments. He successfully applied for a scholarship from his hospital to support his continued research and training.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4870-6099

Aní Gasparyan is a researcher specializing in neuropharmacology and immunobiology. She earned a Pharmacy degree (2007–2012) and a Master’s in Neuroscience (2012–2013) from the University of Valencia, receiving multiple research scholarships. She completed her Ph.D. in Neuroscience (2017–2021) at Miguel Hernández University and was selected for the 2023 ECNP Workshop for Early Career Scientists in Nice, France.

She worked as a postdoctoral researcher (2021–2024) at the Institute of Neurosciences of Alicante (UMH-CSIC), focusing on biomarkers and pharmacological treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders. In 2024, she joined the Hepatic and Intestinal Immunobiology Research Group at UMH, studying immunometabolism in liver cirrhosis and the liver-brain axis. Since 2022, she has also been an Assistant Professor in Pharmacology, and since 2017, a member of ISABIAL.

She enjoys nature, hiking, and the arts.

ORCID: 0000-0002-9646-9975

A graduate in Human Biology from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Albina is currently pursuing a Research Master’s Degree in Clinical Medicine at Miguel Hernández University (UMH). She is a predoctoral research fellow at UMH, working in the Liver and Intestinal Immunobiology group.
She completed an internship at the Reference Laboratory of Catalonia (Hospital del Mar), where she received training in clinical microbiology and the surveillance of multidrug-resistant microorganisms. She also trained at the Translational Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory of the UMH Institute of Neurosciences, participating in studies with murine models and in behavioral testing, tissue collection, and sample preparation for molecular analysis.
Her thesis will be developed within the laboratory’s research line focused on hepatic immunobiology, specifically the study of the liver-brain axis in cirrhosis, along with the study of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the immune response in chronic liver disease.

With a strong scientific curiosity and a keen interest in biomedical research, Albina stands out for her responsibility, initiative, and capacity for learning.

Manuel graduated in Biology from the University of Alicante (2017-2022). He completed a Master’s degree in Regenerative Biomedicine at the University of Granada in 2023, where he gained practical experience in the “Drugs, Environmental Toxins and Cellular Metabolism (BIO-157)” Research Group of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I. Subsequently, in 2025, he completed a second Master’s degree in Physiology at the University of Valencia.
Currently, he is a predoctoral researcher in the Hepatic and Intestinal Immunology Group, supported by a grant from the PROMETEO25 program for research groups of excellence. His research focuses on immune reprogramming to balance the T cell compartment of the liver-brain axis during aging in cirrhosis.

Manuel is a nature lover and an endurance sports enthusiast, and therefore enjoys trail running, cycling, and hiking.