Our Team

Mariona Bustamante joined ISGlobal (former CREAL) in 2010 as a postdoctoral researcher and now has a position as staff scientist in the area of molecular epidemiology.

Her background is in biochemistry and human genetics. Her PhD focused on the identification of genetic variants associated to complex diseases and the functional validation in in vitro models. Currently, she investigates the genetic causes of complex phenotypes and their interaction with environmental exposures.

In addition, she studies the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of the exposome on health. Their position as staff scientist gives her a transversal view of the cutting edge omics methods.

Lines of research

•  Genetics
•  Epigenetics
•  DNA methylation
•  Transcriptomics
•  miRNA
•  Gene-environmental interactions

Main publications

• Horikoshi M, Beaumont RN, ... , Bustamante M, ..., McCarthy MI, Freathy RM. Genome-wide associations for birth weight and correlations with adult disease. Nature. 2016 PMID:27680694
•  Morales E, Vilahur N, Salas LA, Motta V, Fernandez MF, Murcia M, Llop S, Tardon A, Fernandez-Tardon G, Santa-Marina L, Gallastegui M, Bollati V, Estivill X, Olea N, Sunyer J, Bustamante M. Genome-wide DNA methylation study in human placenta identifies novel loci associated with maternal smoking during pregnancy. Int J Epidemiol. 2016 PMID:27591263
•  Marinelli M*, Pappa I*, Bustamante M*, ..., Tiemeier H, Sunyer J. Heritability and Genome-Wide Association Analyses of Sleep Duration in Children: The EAGLE Consortium. Sleep. 2016 PMID:27568811
• Bustamante M*, Standl M*, ..., Estivill X, Sunyer J.A genome-wide association meta-analysis of diarrhoeal disease in young children identifies FUT2 locus and provides plausible biological pathways. Hum Mol Genet. 2016 PMID: 27559109
•  Joubert BR, Felix JF, ..., Bustamante M, ..., Melén E, London SJ. DNA methylation in newborns and maternal smoking in pregnancy: genome-wide Consortium meta-analysis. Am J Hum Genet. 2016 98(4):680-96. PMID:27040690