Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)
Team Info
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) is the largest Spanish technical university and is a renowned European institution, being outstanding in its research activity as well as in the formation of highly-qualified professionals, competitive at an international level. UPM has two Campus of International Excellence recognitions. Activity on R&D&I and knowledge transfer to society are strategic lines of UPM and more than 2,400 researchers are committed to finding solutions to real-world problems and to transforming knowledge into applications for the productive sectors. Every year, UPM applies for around 40 patents and receives a similar number of concessions demonstrating a high commitment to innovation. UPM is also leader in business creation, having generated about 140 spin-offs. Its support and backing of the business sector is very close.
The Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP) is a joint venture between UPM and Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA). CBGP goals are to carry out excellent research aimed at understanding plant function, and to contribute to fulfil the needs of the economic agents within the agriculture, forestry and environment productive sectors. CBGP is also a reference centre for training of both scientists and technicians in the fields of plant biotechnology and genomics. Currently, 163 scientists work at CBGP 25% of which are foreigners. In 2017 CBGP got the Severo Ochoa award for research excellence from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.
The “Plant-virus interaction and co-evolution group” at CBGP, led by Prof. Fernando García-Arenal contributes to all aspects of plant virology, from diagnosis and diagnostic tools for new diseases to the molecular mechanisms of plant-virus interactions. A major interest in the group has been understanding plant virus evolution. More recently our research puts emphasis on plant-virus coevolution and on how the ecology of the host plant modulates plant virus interactions and promotes or hinders virus emergence. The group integrates 4 permanent researchers, 2 postdocs, 5 PhD students and 2 technicians and is considered an international reference in plant virus evolution and ecology.