XENOMAR is an innovative, multidisciplinary group characterized by extensive experience in the area of genetics of marine organisms, mainly bivalve molluscs, as well as a toxicological understanding of human populations and their relationships with health.
The research carried out by this group has two different approaches: one for basic science and the other for applied research. This enables it to contribute to the transfer of knowledge to both the private sector (companies) and the public sector (training of undergraduates, master’s candidates and doctoral students), thus redounding on the academic excellence of Corunna University.
The group’s mastery of cytogenetic, toxicological, molecular and biocomputing methodologies is due to the fact its personnel has specialized over the years at various prestigious centres to develop different tasks enabling them nowadays to take on biotechnological goals in European, Spanish and regional projects.
In recent years, the activities carried out by the XENOMAR group has maintained an outstanding level of international excellence in the area of marine organisms and human health. Is most relevant contributions can be summed up in the following goals with their respective research lines.
These research lines have enabled the preparation of protocols for speedy and effective biomonitoring in episodes of pollution in the marine environment and among human consumers, enabling an early assessment of the genetic harm caused by adverse conditions such as chemical pollutants, fuel and/or red tides.
The genetic analysis of marine organisms enabled the pioneering development of new molecular markers in molluscs of commercial interest (mussels, razors, cockles, clams, variegated and queen scallops) for application in populational analysis, evaluation of natural banks, adjudication of paternities and genetic analysis of bivalve mollusc seeds for sowing and sustainable exploitation of natural resources.
The characterization and analysis of the mussel transcriptome, as well as the study of the differential gene expression, enables an understanding of possible genotoxicity biomarkers and their usefulness in a marine setting.
Catedrática de Universidad
Área de Genética - Departamento de Biología Celular y Molecular
Doctora en Biología (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
Fernando Francisco Avecilla Porto ![]() |
Ginna Margoriek Chacón Ruíz |
Ana María Insua Pombo ![]() |
Miguel Anxo Maestro Saavedra ![]() |
Mª Luisa Martínez Martínez ![]() |
Lucía Mato López |
Antía Sar Rañó |