Our Team

Elisabet Guiral holds a PhD in Medicine and is an associate professor at the University of Barcelona, specialised in clinical microbiology. Her thesis focused on clinical strains of Escherichia coli and their mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, virulence factors and molecular epidemiology.

She has been the coordinator of the Antimicrobial Resistance Initiative at ISGlobal, carrying out scientific outreach activities aimed at the general public and healthcare professionals. In addition, Elisabet Guiral manages the research projects of Jordi Vila, senior consultant in the Department of Microbiology at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and full professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona. She also supports ISGlobal’s Global viral and bacterial infections programme, whilst being a member of the Impact Unit at the same institution.

Lines of research

• Bacterial Infections 
• Antimicrobial Resistance 
• One Health 

Main publications

• Oliveras P, Riera E, Lucas J, de Pedro-Jové R, Horvath L, Albarracin R, Fleitas P, Valls ME, Alvarez-Martínez MJ, Alguacil M, Espasa M, Guiral E, Camprubí-Ferrer D, Vila J. Molecular epidemiological characterization of enterotoxigenic and enteroaggregative Escherichia coli causing traveller's diarrhoea and their association with persistence of symptoms. J Travel Med. 2026 Mar 2;33(2):taaf110. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taaf110. PMID: 41092256.
• Guiral E, Gonçalves Quiles M, Muñoz L, Moreno-Morales J, Alejo-Cancho I, Salvador P, Alvarez-Martinez MJ, Marco F, Vila J. Emergence of Resistance to Quinolones and Beta-Lactam Antibiotics in Enteroaggregative and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Causing Traveler's Diarrhea. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2019 Jan 29;63(2):e01745-18. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01745-18. PMID: 30478165; PMCID: PMC6355616.
• Guiral E, Pons MJ, Vubil D, Marí-Almirall M, Sigaúque B, Soto SM, Alonso PL, Ruiz J, Vila J, Mandomando I. Epidemiology and molecular characterization of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli isolates harboring blaCTX-M group 1 extended-spectrum beta-lactamases causing bacteremia and urinary tract infection in Manhiça, Mozambique. Infect Drug Resist. 2018 Jul 3;11:927-936. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S153601. PMID: 30013375; PMCID: PMC6037150.
• Guiral E, Sáez-López E, Bosch J, Goncé A, López M, Sanz S, Vila J, Soto SM. Antimicrobial resistance and virulence characterization among Escherichia coli clinical isolates causing severe obstetric infections in pregnant women. J Clin Microbiol. 2015 May;53(5):1745-7. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00487-15. Epub 2015 Mar 4. PMID: 25740771; PMCID: PMC4400784.
• Guiral E, Bosch J, Vila J, Soto SM. Antimicrobial resistance of Escherichia coli strains causing neonatal sepsis between 1998 and 2008. Chemotherapy. 2012;58(2):123-8. doi: 10.1159/000337062. Epub 2012 May 10. PMID: 22572070.