Molecular Biology of Reproduction and Development. PI: Rafael Oliva Virgili

Josep Lluis Ballescà Lagarda 
Andrologist
jlballesca@gmail.com

Ferran Barrachina Villalonga
Doctoral estudent
barrachina.ferran@gmail.com

Judit Castillo Corullón
Postdoctoral
juditcastillo@ub.edu

Salvadora Civico Vallejo
Embryologist
scivico@clinic.cat

Alberto de la Iglesia Rodriguez
Doctorate student
alberto4594@gmail.com

Juan Manuel Corral Molina
Andrologist/Urologist
jmcorral@clinic.cat

Marta Guimerà Leal 
Embryologist
mguimera@clinic.cat

Meritxell Jodar Bifet
Postdoctoral
m.jodar.bifet@gmail.com

B. Jose Manuel Mayorga Torres
Doctorate student
jose.mayorgat@gmail.com

Rafael Oliva Virgili
Coordinator
roliva@ub.edu

Ada Soler i Ventura
Doctorate student
ada.soler.ventura@gmail.com

• Proteomic characterization and function of the sperm cell.
• Chromatin transitions and mechanisms during spermatogenesis.
• Small RNA, epigenetics and function of the sperm cell in transgenerational inheritance.
• Exosome composition and function in semen.
• Identification of genetic, epigenetic, RNA and proteomic abnormalities in infertile patients.

• ANDRONET (European andrology network– research coordination, education and public awareness)

Principal Investigator: Rafael Oliva Virgili
University or Research Institution: Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica
Funding entity: EU-COST-Action (CA20119)
Type of contract/Program: Ajuts a la Recerca
Project/contract number: CA20119
Amount: 125 000 €
Duration: 01/11/2021 - 30/10/2025

• Impact of COVID-19 on male reproductive Health.

Principal Investigator: Rafael Oliva Virgili
University or Research Institution: Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)
Funding entity: Fundació La Marató de TV3
Type of contract/Program: Ajuts a la Recerca
Project/contract number: 219/C/2021 (202128-30)
Amount: 189.832 €
Duration: 01/11/2021 - 31/10/2024

• Madurez molecular de la cromatina del espermatozoide y selección espermática en los tratamientos de reproducción asistida

Principal Investigator: Rafael Oliva Virgili
University or Research Institution: Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)
Funding entity: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación -ISCIII
Type of contract/Program: Ajuts a la Recerca
Project/contract number: ISCIII PI20/00936
Amount: 80.465 €
Duration: 01/01/2021 - 31/12/2023

• Análisis proteómico y transcriptómico del semen e identificación de biomarcadores capaces de evaluar la contribución paterna a la fertilización y la embriogénesis

Principal Investigator: Rafael Oliva Virgili
University or Research Institution: Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)
Funding entity: Ministerio de economia y Competitividad -ISCIII
Type of contract/Program: Ajuts a la Recerca
Project/contract number: ISCIII PI16/00346 
Amount: 71.995 €
Duration: 01/01/2017 - 01/01/2019

• Sperm cell proteome and identification of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in infertile patients

Principal Investigator: Rafael Oliva Virgili
Participating entities: Universitat de Barcelona (Fundació Bosh Gimpera)
Funding entity: Euvitro, S.L. (Clinica Eugin)
Project/contract number: FBG 307854
Amount: 70.380 €
Duration: 30/04/2014 - 30/09/2018

• Determinación de la composición proteómica y epigenética del espermatozoide y de sus alteraciones en pacientes infértiles

Principal Investigator: Rafael Oliva Virgili (becari Ferran Barrachina Vilallonga)
University or Research Institution: Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)
Type of contract/Program: Recursos Humans
Funding entity: Ministerio de educación, cultura y deporte
Project/contract number: FPU15/02306
Amount: 86.985,76 €, (administrat per IDIBAPS RH041448)
Duration: 01/10/2016 - 01/10/2020

• Incorporació al Grup de Biologia Molecular de la Reproducció i el Desenvolupament

Principal Investigator: Rafael Oliva Virgili
Funding entity: Generalitat de Catalunya (PERIS 2016-2020)
Other participating entities: IDIBAPS
Project/contract number: SLT002/16/00337
Amount: 104.821,10 €
Duration: 01/02/2017 - 31/12/2019

For more information for PI publications click in the link:
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4876-2410
ResearcherID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/C-9741-2009
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=uE5tV8wAAAAJ&hl=es
Scopus Author ID: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=17635957400

 

Torra-Massana M, Jodar M, Barragán M, Soler-Ventura A, Delgado-Dueñas D, Rodríguez A, Oliva R, Vassena R. Altered mitochondrial function in sperm from patients with repetitive fertilization failure after ICSI revealed by proteomics.  Andrology. 2021 Jul;9(4):1192-1204. PMID: 33615715

Lorente G, Iles D, Ntostis P, Maitland N, Mengual L, Musquera M, Muneer A, Oliva R, Miller D. Semen sampling as a simple, non-invasive surrogate for prostate health screening. Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine 2021; Oct;67(5):354-365. PMID: 34180329

Anifandis G, Tempest HG, Oliva R, Swanson GM, Simopoulou M, Easley CA, Primig M, Messini CI, Turek PJ, Sutovsky P, Ory SJ, Krawetz SA. COVID-19 and human reproduction: A pandemic that packs a serious punch. Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine, 2021 Feb;67(1):3-23. PMID: 33719829

Soler-Ventura A, Gay M, Jodar M, Vilanova M, Castillo J, Arauz-Garofalo G, Villarreal L, Ballescà JL, Vilaseca M, Oliva R. Characterization of human sperm protamine proteoforms through a combination of top-down and bottom-up mass spectrometry approaches.  Journal of Proteome Research. 2020 19(1):221-237. PMID: 31703166

Jodar M, Attardo-Parrinello C, Soler-Ventura A, Barrachina F, Delgado-Dueñas D, Cívico S, Calafell JM, Ballescà JL, Oliva R. Sperm proteomic changes associated to early embryo quality after ICSI.  Reproductive Biomedicine Online. 2020; 40(5):700-710. PMID: 32444165

Barrachina F, Jodar M, Delgado-Dueñas D, Soler-Ventura A, Estanyol JM, Mallofré C, Ballescà JL, Oliva R. Stable-protein Pair Analysis as A Novel Strategy to Identify Proteomic Signatures: Application To Seminal Plasma From Infertile Patients. Molecular and Cellular Proteomics. 2019;18(Suppl1):S77-S90. mcp.RA118.001248. PMID: 30518674

Torra-Massana M, Cornet-Bartolomé D, Barragán M, Durban M, Ferrer-Vaquer A, Zambelli F, Rodriguez A, Oliva R, Vassena R. Novel phospholipase C zeta 1 mutations associated with fertilization failures after ICSI. Human Reproduction, 2019 Aug 1;34(8):1494-1504. PMID: 31347677

Castillo J, Bogle OA, Jodar M, Torabi F, Delgado-Dueñas D, Estanyol JM, Ballescà JL, Miller D, Oliva R. Proteomic changes in human sperm during sequential in vitro capacitation and acrosome reaction. Frontiers in Cell and Develop Biology. 2019. 20;7:295. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2019.00295. PMID: 31824947

Requena J, Alvarez-Palomo AB, Codina-Pascual M, Delgado-Morales R, Moran S, Esteller M, Sal M, Juan M, Boronat Barado A, Consiglio A, Bogle OA, Wolvetang E, Ovchinnikov D, Alvarez I, Jaraquemada D, Mezquita-Pla J, Oliva R, Edel MJ. Global Proteomic and Methylome Analysis in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Reveals Overexpression of a Human TLR3 Affecting Proper Innate Immune Response Signaling. Stem Cells. 2019 Apr;37(4): 476-488. doi: 10.1002/ stem.2966. Epub 2019 Feb 14. PMID: 30664289

Barrachina F, Jodar M, Delgado-Dueñas D, Soler-Ventura A, Estanyol JM, Mallofré C, Ballescà JL, Oliva R. Stable-protein Pair Analysis as A Novel Strategy to Identify Proteomic Signatures: Application To Seminal Plasma From Infertile Patients. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2019 Mar 15;18(Suppl 1): S77-S90. doi: 10.1074/ mcp.RA118.001248. Epub 2018 Dec 5. PMID: 30518674

Barrachina F, Anastasiadi D, Jodar M, Castillo J, Estanyol JM, Piferrer F, Oliva R. Identification of a complex population of chromatin-associated proteins in the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) sperm. Syst Biol Reprod Med. 2018 Dec;64(6): 502-517. doi: 10.1080/ 19396368.2018. 1482383. Epub 2018 Jun 25. PMID: 29939100

Castillo J, Jodar M, Oliva R. The contribution of human sperm proteins to the development and epigenome of the preimplantation embryo. Hum Reprod Update. 2018 Sep 1;24(5): 535555. doi: 10.1093/humupd/ dmy017. Review. PMID: 29800303

Torra-Massana M, Barragán M, Bellu E, Oliva R, Rodríguez A, Vassena R. Sperm telomere length in donor samples is not related to ICSI outcome. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2018 Apr;35(4): 649-657. doi: 10.1007/ s10815-017-1104-2. Epub 2018 Jan 16. PMID: 29335812

Torabi F, Bogle OA, Estanyol JM, Oliva R, Miller D. Zona pellucida-binding protein 2 (ZPBP2) and several proteins containing BX7B motifs in human sperm may have hyaluronic acid binding or recognition properties  Mol Hum Reprod. 2017 Dec 1;23(12): 803-816. doi: 10.1093/ molehr/ gax053. PMID: 29126140

Bogle OA, Kumar K., Attardo-Parrinello C., Lewis SEM., Estanyol JM, Ballescà JL, Oliva R, Identification of Protein Changes in Human Sperm throughout the Cryopreservation Process, Andrology. 2017 Jan;5(1):10-22. doi: 10.1111/ andr.12279. Epub 2016 Nov 17. PMID: 27860400

Jodar M, Soler-Ventura A, Oliva R; Molecular Biology of Reproduction and Development Research Group. Semen proteomics and male infertility. J Proteomics. 2017 Jun 6;162:125-134. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2016.08.018. Epub 2016 Aug 26. Review. PMID: 27576136

Martínez-Zamora MA, Tàssies D, Reverter JC, Creus M, Casals G, Cívico S, Carmona F, Balasch J. Increased circulating cell-derived microparticlecount is associated with recurrent implantation failure after IVF and embryo transfer. Reprod Biomed Online. 2016 Aug;33(2): 168-73. doi: 10.1016 /j.rbmo.2016.05.005. Epub 2016 May 20. PMID: 27236712

Jain CV, Jessmon P, Kilburn BA, Jodar M, Sendler E, Krawetz SA, Armant DR. Regulation of HBEGF by Micro-RNA for Survival of Developing Human Trophoblast Cells. PLoS One. 2016; 11(10): e0163913. Published online 2016 Oct 4. doi: 10.1371/ journal.pone. 0163913. PMIC: 5049799

Johnson GD, Jodar M, Pique-Regi R, Krawetz SA. Nuclease Footprints in Sperm Project Past and Future Chromatin Regulatory Events. Sci Rep. 2016 May 17;6:25864. Published online 2016 May 17. doi: 10.1038/ srep25864. PMIC: 4869110

Jodar M, Sendler E, Moskovtsev SI, Librach CL, Goodrich R, Swanson S, Hauser R, Diamond MP, Krawetz SA. Response to Comment on "Absence of sperm RNA elements correlates with idiopathic male infertility". SciTranslMed. 2016 Aug 24;8(353): 353tr1. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaf4550. PMID: 27559098

Carrell DT, Aston KI, Oliva R, Emery BR, De Jonge CJ. The "omics" of human male infertility: integrating big data in a systems biology approach. Cell Tissue Res. 2016;363: 295-312. doi: 10.1007/ s00441-015-2320-7. Epub 2015 Dec 10. PMID: 26661835

Codina C, Estanyol JM, Fidalgo MJ, Ballescà JL, Oliva R. Advances in sperm proteomics: best-practise methodology and clinical potential. Expert Review of Proteomics. 2015;12:255-77. doi: 10.1586/ 14789450.2015. 1040769. Epub 2015 Apr 28. Review. PMID: 25921224

Paiva C, Amaral A, Rodriguez M, Canyellas N, Correig X, Ballesca JL, Ramalho-Santos J, Oliva R. Identification of endogenous metabolites in human sperm cells using 1H-NMR and GC-MS. Andrology. 2015; 3:496-505. doi: 10.1111/ andr. 12027. Epub 2015 Apr 8. PMID: 25854681

Castillo J, Estanyol JM, Ballescà JL, Oliva R, Human sperm chromatin epigenetic potential: genomics, proteomics, and male infertility. Asian Journal of Andrology 2015; 17:601-9. doi: 10.4103/ 1008-682X. 153302. PMID: 25926607

Pantano L, Jodar M, Bak M, Ballescà JL, Tommerup N, Oliva R, Vavouri T. The small RNA content of human sperm reveals pseudogene-derived piRNAs complementary to protein coding genes. RNA, 2015;21: 1085-95. doi: 10.1261/ rna.046482.114. Epub 2015 Apr 22. PMID: 25904136

Vilagran I, Yeste M, Sancho S, Castillo J, Oliva R, Bonet S. Comparative analysis of boar seminal plasma proteome from different freezability ejaculates and identification of Fibronectin 1 as sperm freezability marker. Andrology, 2015; 3: 345-56. doi: 10.1111/ andr.12009. Epub 2015 Feb 9. PMID: 25678437

Castillo J, Amaral A, Azpiazu R, Vavouri T, Estanyol JM, Ballescà JL, Oliva R. Genomic and proteomic dissection and characterization of the human sperm chromatin. Mol Hum Reprod. 2014;20: 1041-53. doi: 10.1093/ molehr/ gau079. Epub 2014 Sep 5. PMID: 25193639

Amaral A, Paiva C, Attardo Parrinello C, Estanyol JM, Ballescà JL, Ramalho-Santos J, Oliva R. Identification of Proteins Involved in Human Sperm Motility Using High-Throughput Differential Proteomics. J Proteome Res. 2014;13:5670-84. doi: 10.1021/ pr500652y. Epub 2014 Oct 7. PMID: 25250979

Zatecka E, Castillo J, Elzeinova F, Kubatova A, Ded L, Peknicova J, Oliva R. The effect of tetrabromobisphenol A on protamine content and DNA integrity in mouse sperm. Andrology 2014;2: 910-7. doi: 10.1111/ j.2047-2927. 2014.00257.x. Epub 2014 Aug 22. PMID: 25146423

Azpiazu R, Amaral A, Castillo J, Estanyol JM, Guimerà M, Ballescà JL,  Balasch J, Oliva R. High-throughput sperm differential proteomics suggests that epigenetic alterations contribute to failed assisted reproduction. Hum Reprod. 2014;29: 1225-37. doi: 10.1093/ humrep/ deu073. Epub 2014 Apr 29. PMID: 24781426

Giacco DL, Chianese C, Sánchez-Curbelo J, Bassas L, Ruiz P, Rajmil O, Sarquella J, Vives A, Ruiz-Castañé E, Oliva R, Ars E, Krausz C. Clinical relevance of Y-linked CNV screening in male infertility: new insights based on the 8-year experience of a diagnostic genetic laboratory. Eur J Hum Genet. 2014 Jun;22(6): 754-61. doi: 10.1038/ ejhg.2013.253. Epub 2013 Nov 6. PMID: 24193344

Jodar M, Oliva R. Protamine alterations in human spermatozoa. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2014;791: 83-102. doi: 10.1007/ 978-1-4614- 7783-9_6. PMID: 23955674

Amaral A, Castillo J, Ramalho-Santos J, Oliva R. 2014. The combined human sperm proteome: cellular pathways and implications for basic and clinical science. Human Reproduction Update 2014 Jan-Feb;20(1): 40-62. doi: 10.1093/ humupd/ dmt046. Epub 2013 Sep 29. PMID: 24082039

• Offers from the University of Barcelona:

Work UB

• Offers from the Research Group:

The Molecular Biology of Reproduction and Development Group, led by Dr. Rafael Oliva, is looking for a candidate to develop a DOCTORAL THESIS within the research project “Molecular maturity of sperm chromatin and sperm selection in the treatments of assisted reproduction”, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Carlos III Institute of Health (ref. PI20 / 00936).