Catarina Allegue Toscano
Dr Catarina Allegue Toscano is a senior researcher at CIMUS, University of Santiago de Compostela, and a member of IDIS, specialising in human genetics, bioinformatics and translational genomics. Her work centres on the development of advanced disease models and innovative preclinical therapeutic strategies, with a particular emphasis on neurodevelopmental disorders.
Following postdoctoral training at the University of Girona and a Sara Borrell fellowship at IDIBGi, she undertook a research stay at the University of California, San Diego, before joining CIMUS in 2017. Since then, her research has focused on integrating genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics with cellular modelling and gene-based approaches to investigate complex and rare diseases.
Dr Allegue currently leads several competitive projects aligned with precision medicine and advanced therapies. These include CRETA-ND, which aims to characterise therapeutic responses in complex neurodevelopmental models; IMPaCT-Genómica2 (2025–2027), a large national initiative advancing genomic medicine in rare diseases and low-frequency tumours, where she acts as Principal Investigator; a project on the generation of patient-derived brain organoids to model paediatric GRIN-related disorders and develop targeted therapies; and a study on personalised CAR-M cell therapy targeting EGFR in solid tumours, exploring next-generation engineered myeloid cell immunotherapies, in which she is Co-Principal Investigator.
She also contributes to translational initiatives such as CIMUS INNOVA, focused on high-throughput drug screening in patient-derived models, and participates in collaborative networks including CIBERER and the CERTERA consortium, supporting the development and implementation of advanced therapy medicinal products. Her work has led to technology transfer outputs, including a recent patent on genetically modified animal models.
In addition to her research, Dr Allegue is actively involved in training and outreach, delivering courses on gene and cell therapies, and works closely with patient associations to ensure patient-centred and translationally relevant research.
She has authored over 40 scientific publications and has supervised numerous undergraduate, master’s and doctoral theses, with several ongoing PhD projects under her supervision.