Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)

The Department of Medicine and Life Sciences (MELIS) of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) was founded in 1998 and is one of eight departments of UPF, a public university established in 1990 with a strong dedication to excellence in research and teaching. UPF holds a leading position among Spanish universities in multiple international rankings: 1st Spanish university in the U-Multirank, and 3rd Spanish university in the Times Higher Education ranking (2023). MELIS’s scientific capabilities and achievements led to its being one of six research units in Spain to be awarded the María de Maeztu distinction by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación in 2014. MELIS renewed the María de Maeztu distinction in 2019 and 2025. MELIS is strategically located at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), which gathers several public research centres and is physically connected to Barcelona’s Hospital del Mar, being one of the largest hubs of research in Southern Europe. This close contact facilitates alliances with research institutes such as the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the Hospital del Mar – Medical Research Institute (IMIM), and EMBL Barcelona.