Nuria Roldan

Dr. Roldan works as lead scientist and project manager at AlveoliX since 2019. Currently, she is responsible for the development and implementation of microphysiological system/organ-on-chip approaches for early- and late-phase drug development. Her research involves generating human models of the distal airways that can be used for safety and efficacy testing, as well as for inhalation toxicology.

Dr. Roldan has experience in lung biophysics and physiology with a focus on the homeostasis of the pulmonary surfactant system. Along her PhD journey in the lab of Prof. Perez-Gil (UCM, Spain), Dr. Roldan gained extensive knowledge on the interplay of surfactant components for adapting the pulmonary function, and the relevance of its tight regulation by alveolar cells to preserve alveolar mechanics. Driven by her interest in implementing and investigating the dynamic feature of the lung in vitro as an alternative to animal models, Dr. Roldan jumped into the organ-on-chip field in 2018 by joining Prof. Guenat’s lab at the University of Bern (Switzerland). During her postdoctoral work she led the establishment of an alveolar model for acute lung injury, for which she combined human alveolar and immune cells using the lung-on-chip technology. Dr. Roldan holds a BSc. In Biotechnology by the Pablo de Olavide University (Spain) and a MSc. in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biomedicine by the UCM (Spain).