2014_10_09_CIE_puesto_investigador_master

Igor López graduated in Biology at the University of Navarra and later, he studied the Master's Degree in research Biomedicine at the academic center. He is currently doing his doctoral thesis at the Radboud Umc University Medical Center in the Netherlands. His research will focus on the functioning of the human immune system.

As he explains, "while I was doing the Master's Degree in research Biomedical I was looking for scholarships and as in Spain the status was complicated I decided to try abroad". "To my surprise, I got an answer from the Netherlands right away and after several interviews I was accepted, so I secured a position at researcher to do the thesis before finishing the Master's Degree".

His work of research focuses on the immune system. As he explains, "the immune system consists, on the one hand, of adaptive immunity, which is capable of directly attacking elements harmful to the organism and retaining for a long time a report of that fight. And on the other hand, innate immunity, which acts as the first line of defense and recognizes the general characteristics of these pathogens. However, scientists have recognized that this first line of defense can also learn from past fights, as has been observed in programs of study with plants, invertebrates and in mice".

Igor Lopez, born in Malaga, will develop his thesis at the Radboud University Clinic, specifically at department Internal Medicine. "At the end of the day the clinical application is based on the findings provided by research".