PI BIO

Dr. Raquel Espin Palazon received her bachelor’s degree in biology, and PhD in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from University of Murcia, Spain. She continued with a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Raquel Espin Palazon established her independent laboratory in the United States in 2019, when she joined Iowa State University as an Assistant Professor of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology. She is a highly respected young leader in the field of stem cell and developmental biology. Particularly, she pioneered the discovery that inflammatory signaling pathways are critical to establish the birth of blood stem cells during natural embryonic development in the absence of injury or infections.

Her research group is currently driving forward this new frontier of research with novel zebrafish tools and epigenetic profiling methods that provide a unique advantage to assess stem cell development in vivo while avoiding the pitfalls of artifactual inflammation triggered by more invasive techniques. This has positioned her laboratory at the forefront of the study of Developmental Inflammation, becoming a foundation for the stem cell and developmental biology communities, and will contribute more broadly to regenerative medicine and cure of blood disease.