Raquel
Romar Andres

Raquel Romar holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine (1996) and a European Doctorate (2001) from the University of Murcia (UM). She has been a lecturer at the Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, Valencia (2004) and is currently a lecturer at the Physiology Department of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the UM (2005). Researcher at the Murcian Institute of Biomedicine (IMIB). She has worked in the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Mexico, Germany and France, thanks to grants from the Japanese and Spanish Ministries of Education and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, among others. His research has focused on reproductive biology, initially investigating aspects of intercellular communication between oviductal gametes and cortical response in the pig. In recent years, she has been involved in studies related to the composition of oviductal fluid and its effects on gametes and embryos, obtaining a patent in this field to introduce biofluids in the processes of sperm capacitation, fertilisation and early embryo development, thus improving the final quality of embryos obtained in vitro. Since 2015, she has been involved in the generation of 3D cellular and molecular models that can be used as an alternative to the use of oocytes in in vitro fertilisation studies and to improve the quality of embryos produced in vitro. In this field, hydrogels are used for oocyte maturation and a 3D model has been developed using silica beads conjugated to recombinant zona pellucida proteins for binding studies with mammalian spermatozoa. She is the inventor of an international patent (WO 2016/055681) and her knowledge transfer activity is developed in the technology spin-off EmbryoCloud SL, of which she is a co-founder, where she researches the formulation and development of culture media for the in vitro production of animal embryos. As a member of a very active and diverse research team, she has participated in studies on sperm freezing, the generation of transgenic pigs and the impact on the health of animals born through assisted reproduction techniques. She has led national and regional projects, both research and transfer. She has 4 six-year research periods, 4 five-year teaching periods and is accredited by ANECA for the position of Professor. She has supervised a total of 7 doctoral theses (1 of them in the Industrial Doctorate modality), 8 bachelor theses (TFG) and 37 master theses (TFM). Member of the UM Knowledge Transfer Group 'Reproductive Fluids for the Improvement of Assisted Reproduction Techniques (EMBRYOCLOUD)'. President of the Local Organising Committee of the 35th AETE International Conference in 2019. Co-founder of the spin-off EmbryoCloud SL in 2021.His teaching activity focuses on the Veterinary Degree, the Official Master in 'Biology and Technology of Reproduction' and the PhDs 'Biology and Technology of Reproductive Health (REPROBIOL)', Joint European PhD ITN Marie-Skłodowska Curie 'Biology and Technology of Reproductive Health (REP-BIOTECH)' and the Doctoral Network AFRODITA (ITN Marie-Skłodowska Curie).