Nerea Irigoyen facts for kids

Nerea Irigoyen Vergara is a scientist from Spain. She was born in Zaragoza in 1981. Nerea is a virologist, which means she studies viruses. She leads a team of researchers at Cambridge University in the UK. Her main focus is understanding the Zika virus.

What Nerea Irigoyen Does

Nerea Irigoyen studies tiny things called viruses. Viruses can make people sick. Her work helps us learn how viruses work and how to stop them. She leads a research group that looks at how viruses affect human cells.

Her Journey in Science

Nerea started her science journey by studying Pharmacy at the University of Navarra in Spain. After that, she earned her PhD at the CNB-CSIC in Madrid. During her studies, she also spent time learning in Italy and the UK.

After finishing her PhD, Nerea moved to the University of Cambridge. There, she worked as a special researcher. She was part of a team studying viruses and even helped manage a big project.

Studying Viruses and Diseases

In 2018, Nerea started her own research team. They began looking for new ways to study cells infected by viruses. Her team focused on the Zika virus, but also studied other viruses like coronavirus and retrovirus.

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, her group quickly changed their focus. They worked hard to understand SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. They also looked for new ways to fight these kinds of infections with medicines.

Important Research Awards

In 2023, Nerea Irigoyen received a special award called the Wellcome Trust Career Development Award. This award helps her continue her important work as an independent scientist. It supports her research into how the Zika virus affects the brain and nervous system.

This award also helps prepare for future pandemics. Diseases like Zika, Dengue, and West-Nile are spreading to new areas. This is partly because of climate change. Nerea's research helps us understand and prepare for these challenges.

Connecting Scientists

Nerea Irigoyen is also one of the people who helped start the Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK (SRUK/CERU). This group helps Spanish scientists who live and work in the UK connect with each other. They also help share science information with the public and with government leaders in Spain.

Key Scientific Papers

Nerea Irigoyen and her team have published many important scientific papers. These papers share their discoveries with other scientists around the world. Here are a few examples:

• Zika viruses encode 5′ upstream open reading frames affecting infection of human brain cells. Nature Communications, 2024.
• Manipulation of the unfolded protein response: A pharmacological strategy against coronavirus infection. PLoS Pathogens, 2021.
• Small-molecule inhibition of METTL3 as a strategy against myeloid leukaemia. Nature, 2021.
• Hybrid gene origination creates human-virus chimeric proteins during infection. Cell, 2020.
• An upstream protein-coding region in enteroviruses modulates virus infection in gut epithelial cells. Nature Microbiology, 2019.

See also

In Spanish: Nerea Irigoyen para niños