Pura Muñoz-Cánoves studied Pharmacology at the University of Valencia. She obtained her PhD in Biology at the Madrid Autonomous University for work carried out at The Scripps Research Institute, and did postdoctoral work at the University of California-San Diego and The Scripps Research Institute, and in 1995 she joined the Cancer Research Institute in Barcelona as a postdoc, becoming an independent group leader in 1997. In 2002 her group moved to the Center for Genomic regulation in Barcelona, and she became a senior group leader in 2007 in that Institution. Late 2008 she moved to the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), supported by ICREA, as coordinator of the Cell Biology Unit. At present, she is an ICREA Professor and Cell Biology Professor in the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences at the UPF, and is an EMBO Member. Since May 2016, she holds a double appointment at the Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Center (CNIC) in Madrid. The main objective of the Muñoz-Cánoves group is to understand the mechanisms regulating stem cell homeostasis and regenerative functions. Research is specially focused on stem cells of skeletal muscle. Recent studies from the laboratory have shed light on 1) age-associated muscle decline and wasting (sarcopenia) and loss of stem-cell regenerative functions with aging; and 2) the physiopathology of muscular dystrophies.
