Maria Macias, Ph.D.

ICREA Research Professor at IRB Barcelona

Maria earned her PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Universidad de Salamanca in 1993 and completed postdoctoral research in structural biology at EMBL Heidelberg under Prof. Hartmut Oschkinat. In 1998, she began her independent career as a Staff Scientist at EMBL and has served as an ICREA Research Professor at IRB Barcelona since 2002.

Her research focuses on TGFβ signaling and the structural mechanisms of SMAD transcription factors in development and rare diseases, including Myhre Syndrome. Utilizing techniques such as NMR, X-ray, cryoEM, SAXS, and bioinformatics, her lab aims to elucidate SMAD complexes and identify therapeutic compounds targeting vulnerable sites. Maria's team has also developed peptide analogs with pharmacological applications and applies machine learning to predict cancer metastasis in collaboration with clinical partners.

Beyond research, Maria actively promotes gender equity in science through initiatives like the H2020-EU CALIPER project.

Key contributions to science include:

• Discovery of phosphorylation-dependent mechanisms regulating SMAD activity.

• Identification of novel SMAD DNA motifs and the maternal pioneer factor FoxH1.

• Redefinition of SMAD2’s role in DNA interaction and progenitor gene regulation.

• Development of peptide analogs with therapeutic properties.

• Characterization of structural and conformational aspects of SMAD proteins.

• Groundbreaking work on p38α kinase regulation by redox changes.