Marta Ruiz-Riol graduated in Biology from the University of Barcelona. She then worked in the Immunology laboratory at Banc de Sang i Teixits (LIRAD-BST) for 1 year as a diagnostic technician. There she also undertook her doctoral thesis, led by Dr. Ricardo Pujol-Borrell (Autonomous University of Barcelona), based on the study of the mechanisms of loss of self-tolerance (peripheral and central) in organ-specific autoimmune diseases through the application of -omics. In 2011 she joined the research group led by Dr Christian Brander at IrsiCaixa. Since then, she has applied system biology analysis (including proteins arrays, transcriptomics and epigenetics), as well as the “boosted-flow” (patented flow cytometry methodology) for the identification of biomarkers and specific CD4 and CD8 T HIV responses associated with HIV infection control. Some of these studies shed light on the relevance of HIV virus at nervous system, opening a new research line based on the study of biomarkers associated with the neuro(dys)function caused by HIV.