Meritxell Huch (

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, 1978) is a stem cell biologist and director at the

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics __NOTOC__ The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) is a biology research institute located in Dresden, Germany. It was founded in 1998 and was fully operational in 2001. Research groups in the institute work in m ...

. Her research considers tissue regeneration and the development of tissue-specific disease models for human organs. She was awarded a

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

Consolidator Grant in 2023.

Early life and education

After college Huch decided she wanted to work in science because of a desire to understand how aspirin works. Huch was an undergraduate student at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

, where she studied pharmaceutical sciences. She remained there for her graduate studies, earning a Master in 2003 and doctorate in 2007. She completed her PhD research in the

Centre for Genomic Regulation The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG, ''Centre de Regulació Genòmica'' in Catalan) is a biomedical and genomics research centre based in Barcelona. Most of its facilities and laboratories are located in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Par ...

, where she worked alongside Cristina Fillat. After completing her doctoral research she spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow before moring to the Hubrecht Institute on a

Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...

Fellowship. In

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

she worked in the laboratory of

Hans Clevers Johannes (Hans) Carolus Clevers (born 27 March 1957) is a Dutch Molecular genetics, molecular geneticist, Cell biology, cell biologist and stem cell researcher. He became the Head of Pharma, Research and Early Development, and a member of the C ...

, where she isolated the stem cells responsible for the turnover of the adult stomach.

Research and career

Huch was appointed a Sir Henry Dale Research Fellow at the Gurdon Institute at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. She held a joint position with

The Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predeces ...

and the Department of Physiology. After five years in Cambridge, Huch joined the

as one of the first members of the Lise Meitner Excellence Program. She was appointed to the board of directors in 2022. Inflammation and tissue damage are associated with chronic liver disease and cancer. Her group have extensively developed human organoid models to study the molecular basis of adult tissue regeneration. Having identified stem cells responsible for the rapid turnover of the adult stomach, Huch showed that they could be maintained in culture. Next she moved on to

liver cells A hepatocyte is a cell of the main parenchymal tissue of the liver. Hepatocytes make up 80% of the liver's mass. These cells are involved in: * Protein synthesis * Protein storage * Transformation of carbohydrates * Synthesis of cholesterol, bile ...

, demonstrating the replicative potential of

progenitor cell A progenitor cell is a biological cell that can differentiate into a specific cell type. Stem cells and progenitor cells have this ability in common. However, stem cells are less specified than progenitor cells. Progenitor cells can only diffe ...

s during regeneration and showing they are promising candidates for future therapeutic interventions in liver diseases. Her research has the potential to reduce the use of animals in scientific research.

Select publication

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Awards and honours

* 2016 The Hamdan Award for Medical Research Excellence Hamdan Awards * 2017 The Women in Cell Biology Early Career Medal * 2018 Dame Sheila Sherlock Prize * 2018 Elected EMBO Young Investigator * 2019 The BINDER Innovation Prize * 2022 German Stem Cell Network Hilde Mangold Award * 2023

Consolidator Grant * 2024 Otto Bayer Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huch, Meritxell Scientists from Barcelona 1978 births Stem cell researchers Biologists from Catalonia Women biologists Spanish medical researchers Women medical researchers 21st-century Spanish biologists 21st-century Spanish women scientists University of Barcelona alumni Living people Max Planck Institute directors