Healthy Living and Prevention of New Pandemics

Objectives

Globalization and climate change directly affect the social and environmental determinants of health. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic illustrated a series of interrelations that we consider essential to understand in order to find solutions to the effects these phenomena have on individuals' health.  

Thus, we work on studying both physical or chemical and biological, psychological, socioeconomic, and cultural determinants that condition the impact the sustainability crises have on the lives of people and communities.  

These insights allow the application of interventions to prevent and mitigate these impacts, as well as to promote individual and collective behaviours that contribute to a more sustainable society.  

Areas of expertise

Epidemiology and virology; human ecology; healthy lifestyles; demography and migration; bioinformatics; metabolism; nutrition; mental health.  

Research Lines

Epidemiology and public health. Food, nutrition and physical activity.  

  • Intervention in clinical and health psychology and promotion of well-being.  

  • Health education, health promotion, health psychology. 

  • Social inequality: health differences and access to healthcare by social groups. 

  • Work and organizational psychology. 

  • Behaviour prediction in general.  

  • Molecular biology of pathogenic bacteria and antimicrobial strategies.  

  • Bacteria, viruses, and protozoa of public health interest, water, and food.  

  • Human and animal parasitology, basic and applied aspects.  

  • Water and food-borne viral contaminants.  

  • Genomics and proteomics of bacterial virulence factors.  

  • New effective and biodegradable antibiotics: reducing bacterial resistance in the environment. 

  • Molecular metabolism and associated pathologies.  

  • Regulation of lipid metabolism in obesity and diabetes.  

  • Therapeutic peptides. 

  • Molecular metabolism and associated pathologies.  

  • Adaptative physiology: exercise, hypoxia, and health.  

  • Personalized nutrition.

Planetary health and reduction of environmental impact.  

  • Global ecology. 

  • Ecological links between forests and streams: watershed management and restoration.  

  • Ecoepidemiology.  

  • Agriculture and pandemics.  

Culture, society, and health. 

  • Studies on reciprocity. 

  • Didactics of history, geography, and other social sciences – communication.  

  • Risk in finance and insurance. 

  • Territorial analysis and regional development.  

  • Territory, population, and citizenship.  

  • Demographic analysis and health.  

  • Integrative Biochemistry  

  • Chemistry, biology, and systems medicine for biomedical and biotechnological purposes.  

  • Environmental impact on health (metabolic). 

  • Autoimmunity, immunonutrition, and tolerance. 

  • Evolutionary developmental biology.  

Coordination

 
​​​​​​Sílvia Bofill holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Barcelona and co-directs the Water and Foorborne Viruses Laboratory. She is also the lead researcher for the Consolidated Research Group of the Government of Catalonia on “Viruses, Bacteria, and Protozoa of Public Health Interest, Water, and Food” and a principal investigator in competitive research projects, contracts with the administration, other research centres, and companies. She teaches in the Biotechnology degree and various master’s programmes at the University and supervises doctoral theses, master’s, and bachelor’s final projects. She is also a board member of the Association of Women Researchers and Technologists (AMIT) and the International Society for Food and Environmental Virology (ISFEV).  

Contact sbofill@ub.edu​​​​​​
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​​​​​F​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​rancisco José Eiroa Orosa holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry from the University of Hamburg and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the university and a member of the Monitoring Commission of the Mental Health and Addictions Advisory Council in the Government of Catalonia. He also collaborates with the Catalan Association of Mental Health Professionals, the Federation of Catalan Entities of Mental Health in First Person – VEUS, and Obertament. His research interests focus on analyzing strategies for raising awareness among users and processionals in the mental health field to improve communication between them, enhancing the participation of the former in services and promoting critical reflection and self-case among the latter.  
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​Contact feiroa@ub.edu