Miren Cajaraville

 A professor of cellular biology, she has developed her teaching and research work in the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of the Basque Country. She has carried out research stays at the University of Wales, Heidelberg University, King’s College School of Medicine and Dentistry, the University of California in San Diego and the University of Hong Kong. Her research work focuses on the development and application of molecular and cellular contamination biomarkers, in vitro cell cultures and toxicity mechanisms, transcriptomics and proteomics, cell pathology and histopathology, in relation to chemical contamination by aromatic hydrocarbons and petroleum, endocrine disruptors, nanomaterials and microplastics. She has chaired the consolidated (type A) research group on ‘Cellular Biology in Environmental Toxicology’ since its creation in 2001, and is also chair of the ‘Protection of Ecosystem Health’ research unit as well as the lead researcher at the Centre for Biology and Experimental Marine Biotechnology (Plentzia Marine Station). She is professor of the Master's programmes ‘Erasmus Mundus in Marine Environment and Resources’ and ‘Environmental Contamination and Toxicology’. She coordinates the PhD programme ‘Environmental Contamination and Toxicology’, which received a Special Mention for Excellence from MEC. She has directed twelve doctoral theses, ten of which were recognised in Europe or internationally and one by an extraordinary doctoral prize, and she currently directs four doctoral theses. She is the author of two textbooks, sixteen book chapters and more than 150 scientific articles in indexed international journals, and has published one book and three special volumes. She has carried out four six-year periods of research for the CNEI. Quality indicators (Web of Science, April 2016): Total publications listed: 161, the majority in Q1; total citations: 4,407; average number of citations per publication: 26.55; average number of mentions in 2015: 398; h-index: 39. She has taken part in 65 competitive research projects (lead researcher on 27 of these) as well as numerous contracts with companies and research centres. She is a former member of Uniqual’s committee of experts (2010-2011) and an assessor for ANEP (Spanish National Agency for Assessment and Forecasting) and agencies which evaluate research projects in the United States, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Argentina. She is currently a member of the panel experts of the European Research Council (ERC). She is a founding member of the Ibero-American Society of Contamination and Environmental Toxicology (SICTA), the working group on Endocrine Disruption and the DareNet network for the promotion of the zebrafish animal model. She is a member of the organising committee for nine congresses and meetings and of the scientific committee for 22 international congresses. She was a member of the Steering Committee (2007-2009) of the European Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry (ESCPB), has been a member of its Executive Board since 2009 and was its Chair from 2011-2012. She was academic secretary to the Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology from 2009 to 2010, and has held the position of Director of the Unit for Postgraduate Studies and Continuing Education (2010-2011) as well as Director of the School of Master's and Doctoral Programmes (2012) at the University of the Basque Country. Since 2013, she has been Director of the Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology.