Antonio Fontanellas

Dr. Antonio Fontanellas has more than 32 years of experience working with porphyria patients, exploring the pathophysiological mechanisms of the disease, and developing molecular therapies for the treatment of these rare diseases. He obtained an award for the best PhD Thesis of the School of Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid, and a Certificate of Merit from the Spanish Royal Academy of Medicine for his research achievements. In 1996 he moved to Bordeaux, France, granted with a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, and began his career as an independent investigator granted by the Spanish Ministry of Health. In 2018, he received an award for his research career in rare diseases and / or orphan drugs (Premio AELMHU). Our research has been published more than 81 articles in the top journals of the specialty, such as Nature Medicine, Science Tranlational Medicine, Gut, Journal of Hepatology, Molecular Therapy, Blood, British Journal of Pharmacology, Human Gene Therapy or Human Molecular Genetics, etc (with an H factor of 21, which is meritorious since his research field is rare diseases). He routinely serve as a reviewer for grants and journals. Our lab is or has been involved in several national as well as international research projects aiming to develop molecular therapies to treat patients with porphyria. Among these it is worth highlighting the proof-of-concept for AAV-mediated gene therapy, mRNA lipid nanoparticles-based therapy, and engineered recombinant protein therapy, obtained in collaboration with first-line biotech companies. In collaboration with the University Clinic of Navarra and Hospital 12 de Octubre de Madrid, he participated and promoted the first Phase I open label AAV-based gene therapy clinical trial for AIP (NTC02082860 and EudraCT 2011-005590-23). For the last 21 years, his research has been uninterruptedly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health and the European Commission 7th Framework Programe (AIPgene, grant 261506). He has also received funding from private sources, as the Spanish "Fundación Mutua Madrilena", the Spanish "Fundación Eugenio Rodríguez Pascual" and the Spanish "Fundación FEDER para la investigación de Enfermedades Raras". He also collaborates with the industry through research agreements, such as those signed with the Dutch company UniQure or the American biotech Moderna Therapeutics. We have co-developed and patented three products based on innovative therapies (PCT/NL2009/050584, PCT/US2017/033418 and PCT/EP2017/061944), that have been licensed to the biotech industry partners. He is a member of the CIBER for liver and digestive diseases (CIBERehd) since 2014 and has been attached to the Navarra Health Research Institute (IdiSNA), Digestive and Metabolism Area, Hepatocarcinogenesis and hepatoprotection Group since February 2015. In 2018, he received an award for the best research career in rare diseases and / or orphan drugs (Premio AELMHU). ANECA accredited to Antonio Fontanellas as Associated Professor and Professor of Private University in July 16, 2013. In the last 5 years, he has been the tutor of 4 master's assignments and he is professor of two masters “New therapeutic strategies ” (MIDI-07361-1920) and “Biomedical Research” at the University of Navarra. In 2010, he obtained a CATEGORY C (Resolution 623/2010 of December 1, 2010, Public Health Institute, Navarra Health Service). He is accredited to design the procedures and to manage studies carried out with animals for experimentation and other scientific purposes. He has supervised or cosupervised 4 doctoral thesis, 1 of them within the last 5 years, and another three doctoral theses are in progress.

Papers in database

1

Years active

2025

Health outcomes studied

1