Marti Ortega Ribera, PhD

Education:

Bachelors in Biology and Masters in Translational Research, Doctoral degree in Medicine and Translational Research

Research Projects:

As a Postdoc in the Szabo lab, I am interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the progression of aging and end-stage chronic liver disease. Also, I aim at identifying novel therapeutic approaches to target the immune cell populations and ameliorate liver disease development/progression. My current research focuses on neutrophils, acute-on-chronic liver failure, aging and alcohol-associated liver disease.

Research Interests that led you here and/or will take you forward:

During my PhD I was committed to study liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) biology and portal hypertension developing advanced culture systems to model chronic liver disease and its mechanobiological cues. The development of a Liver-on-a-chip device and a purification protocol for isolating primary sinusoidal cells, set the cornerstones for further studying the effect of matrix stiffness and sinusoidal pressure in the context of chronic liver disease development. As a Postdoctoral researcher, I want to widen my knowledge on end-stage/advanced chronic liver disease with special interest on the contribution of innate immune cells in regulating disease progression.

Keywords: Alcohol-related liver disease, LSEC, fibrosis, ACLF, aging, cholestasis

Awards & Honors or Key achievements:

2023 Poster award, 2023 Annual Research Retreat from Beth Israel Deaconess medical Center
2022 Poster award, 21st conference from International Society for the Hepatic Sinusoid Research
2022 Arias Vallejo Award (best basic abstract), Spanish Gastroenterology Foundation
2021 Cum laude & International PhD mentions in PhD program, University of Barcelona
2020 – 2021 M-AES Mobility Fellowship for PhDs, Instituto de Salut Carlos III – Spanish Government. Visiting PhD student, Lerner Research Institute - Cleveland Clinic at Dr. Laura Nagy’s lab, USA
2016 – 2020 iPFIS Predoctoral Fellowship, Instituto de Salut Carlos III – Spanish Government

Publications:

Ortega-Ribera M, Zhuang Y, Brezani V, Thevkar Nagesh P, Joshi R, Babuta M, Wang Y, Szabo G. G-CSF increases calprotectin expression and induces liver damage and neuroinflammation in a murine model of alcohol-induced ACLF. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2024 Feb 14;12:1347395. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1347395. eCollection 2024. PMID: 38419842

Zhuang Y*, Ortega-Ribera M*, Thevkar Nagesh P, Joshi R, Huang H, Wang Y, Zivny A, Mehta J, Parikh SM, Szabo G. Bile acid-induced IRF3 phosphorylation mediates cell death, inflammatory responses and fibrosis in cholestasis-induced liver and kidney injury via the regulation of ZBP1. Hepatology. 2023 Sept 19 doi: 10.1097/HEP.0000000000000611. PMID: 37725754

Complete list of published work : https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=ortega-ribera+M&sort=date

Conference presentations:

Things you love to do outside work:

I sing in the Longwood Chorus as a bass, enjoy travelling and walks in nature.