Ignacio Rego Pérez

Ignacio Rego Pérez PhD is a SNS Miguel Servet Type-II Senior researcher that develops his work at the Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de A Coruña (INIBIC). He achieved his PhD at the Universidade da Coruña in 2003, whose research consisted in the identification of molecular markers for the identification of commercial species of mussels. He joined GIR at INIBIC in 2003 to apply his knowledge of molecular biology and genetics to study the genetic causes of rheumatic diseases, especially osteoarthritis. After a stay at the Research Laboratory of Mitochondrial Diseases (Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid), he set up the protocol for the assignment of the mitochondrial haplogroups by means of sequencing techniques; then he subsequently focused his studies in mitochondrial genetics and its role in OA.

Ignacio Rego was the first researcher that described the association between mitochondrial haplogroups and the prevalence of both knee and hip osteoarthritis, in 2008 and 2010, respectively. During the last five years, he has established several national and international collaborations for the study of mitochondrial haplogroups and different OA-related features in different cohorts worldwide. He´s currently considered an international reference in the study of mitochondrial genetics in osteoarthritis. During this period, he has published 16 scientific papers in the main rheumatology journals, from which he received several awards, as the best scientific communications in the field of osteoarthritis. In addition, he is the PI of 3 research projects. Currently, his research lines focus on the role of mitochondrial genetics in: i) the incidence, progression and severity of OA using next generation sequencing techniques and ii) the epigenome of OA, through the study of a cellular model of transmitochondrial cybrids.