Vanessa Valdiglesias

Dr. Vanessa Valdiglesias is a PhD researcher with several years of experience in Genetic Toxicology and Nanotoxicology. She is BSc in Biology (2002) and MSc in Biotechnology (2006) and in Cell and Molecular Biology (2007).

She completed her PhD, with Honors and Extraordinary Award in November 2010 at the University of A Coruña (Spain) investigating the molecular and cytogenetic effects induced by the marine toxin okadaic acid (OA) in different human cells.

Previously, she investigated the protective effect of selenomethionine on induced DNA damage and repair, as the work for her First Degree, and it was prized with a Scientific Award from the Galician Royal Academy of Sciences (2007).

Between 2012 and 2013, she performed her first Postdoctoral Research in Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology focused on the use of genetic biomarkers in human population studies in the IRCCS San Raffaele in Rome (Italy). Additionally, she completed her formation with stays in different research centers such as the University of Bradford (UK), National Institute of Health (Portugal), and the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (India). During this period, she carried out several studies evaluating the health risk, mainly on nervous system, of exposure to different nanomaterials. Recently (2016-2018), she finished her second Postdoctoral Research in the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (Portugal), focused on the development of biomarkers for early identification of physical and cognitive frailty in elderly.

As a consequence of this exhaustive pre and postdoctoral training, she has become a well-known researcher highly appreciated by the international scientist community. She was awarded in 10 occasions, including the Young Scientist Award 2015 by the European Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society, and the Emergent Scholar Award in Ageing Research 2019 by the InternationalAssociation of Gerontology and Geriatrics.

She has authored a number of scientific publications and conference communications, several as invited lectures. She is also frequently invited to review research projects for different countries and articles for scientific journals, and has been member of organizing and scientific committees in several meetings. At present, she is a `Beatriz Galindo´ Research Fellow at University of A Coruña (Spain) conducting research and teaching activities; she is involved in different research projects as well as supervises several PhD and MSc students.