Alfred Cortés

Alfred Cortés is an ICREA Research Professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), leading the Malaria Epigenetics lab. He obtained a PhD in molecular biology (CID-CSIC, Barcelona) and transitioned to malaria research, serving as Head of Molecular Parasitology at Papua New Guinea IMR. His work focuses on epigenetic regulation mechanisms in Plasmodium falciparum, specifically chromatin-based control of variant gene expression, sexual conversion, and heat-shock response adaptation. Key research areas include parasite adaptation strategies, solute channel regulation, and transcriptional responses to environmental stress.

Education: PhD in molecular biology (Barcelona), postdoctoral training at MRC-NIMR (London). Career milestones include ICREA junior contract (2006), Assistant Research Professor (2011), and current ICREA Research Professor (2012). His lab integrates genome-wide approaches with functional studies to dissect epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms driving malaria parasite biology.

Research priorities include understanding sexual stage development, temperature tolerance mechanisms, and epigenetic variation's role in drug resistance. The lab also investigates bet-hedging strategies enabling parasite survival under environmental changes. Collaborations involve global institutions like IRB Barcelona and CRESIB-ISGlobal.