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My research explores the genetic architecture underlying pulmonary fibrosis, lung function, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and COVID-19.

I joined the Â鶹ÊÓƵ in 2021. I completed my BSc in Biotechnology at the University of Salamanca (Spain), my MSc in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biomedicine at Complutense University of Madrid, and my PhD in Health Sciences at the University of La Laguna (Spain). 

My research focuses on the genetic determinants of pulmonary fibrosis (lung scarring) and critical illness, including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and severe COVID-19, conditions associated with high mortality and limited treatment options. Through my recent Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship, I investigated the genetic overlap between these phenotypes. I also study genetic influences on lung function, applying non-additive genetic models to better understand complex disease mechanisms.

I am a member of the Steering Committee of the Midlands Interstitial Lung Disease Research Alliance (MIRA) and contribute to major collaborative initiatives, including the Post-Hospitalisation COVID-19 Study (PHOSP-COVID) and the Spanish Coalition to Unlock Research on Host Genetics of COVID-19 (SCOURGE).

Alferes de Lima Headley D,..., Guillen-Guio B et al. Sputum and oral microbiota profiles are associated with Long COVID severity and phenotype post-hospitalisation: a UK multicentre, prospective cohort study (2026). Accepted by ERJ on the 29th May.

Díaz-de Usera A, Rubio-Rodríguez LA, Muñoz-Barrera A, Lorenzo Salazar JM, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Expanding CIRdb, a comprehensive catalog of whole-exome sequencing data of Canary Islanders (2026). MedRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.11.24.25340885. Accepted by Human Genetics and Genomics Advances on the 28th May.

Chin D, Hernandez-Beefting T, Donoghue L, Guillen-Guio B et al. Genome-wide association study of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis susceptibility using clinically-curated European-ancestry datasets (2026). Eur Respir J, 21:2600506.

Gardiner LE, ..., Guillen-Guio B et al. Investigating prognostic classifications of pre-existing multiple long-term conditions for health outcomes one-year after COVID-19 hospitalisation: a UK prospective observational study (2026). Int J Infect Dis, 168:108695.

Wang L, .., Guillen-Guio B, et al. Validation of the General Practice Physical Activity Questionnaire after severe COVID-19 (2026). ERJ Open Res,  01496-2025.

Tosco-Herrera E, …, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Rare genetic variant risks in patients with sepsis-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (2026). Respir Res. 27:154.

Stewart I, Jacob J, Porter JC, Liu B, Tatler AL, Gomez N, Pugh MR, John AE, Allen RJ, Blaikley JF, Chaudhuri N, Denneny E, Fabbri L, George PM, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Residual lung abnormality following COVID-19 hospitalisation is characterised by biomarkers of epithelial injury (2026). eBioMedicine, 124:106134.

Schuermans A, Verstraete a, Lammi V, Nakanishi T, Ardissino M, den Eynde JV, Sun BB, Georgakis MK, Guillen-Guio B et al. Human genetics implicate thromboembolism in the pathogenesis of long COVID in individuals of European ancestry (2025). Nature Cardiovascular Research, 4:1662–1676.

Guillen-Guio B et al. Genome-wide association study of susceptibility to acute respiratory distress syndrome (2025). eBiomedicine, 120:105951.

Leavy OC, Goemans AF, Hernandez-Beeftink T, Stockwell AD, Allen RJ, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Sex-specific genetic effects on susceptibility to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (2025). ERJ Open Res, 11:00200-2025.

Rodríguez-Pérez H, Ciuffreda L, Hernández-Beeftink T, Guillen-Guio B et al. Tracheal Aspirate Metagenomics Reveals Association of Antibiotic Resistance with Nonpulmonary Sepsis Mortality (2025). Am J Respir Cell Mol, 72:219-222. 

Guillen-Guio B* et al. Polygenic risk of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19 severity (2025). ERJ Open Res. 11:00978-2024. *Corresponding author

Vilma L,…, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Genome-wide Association Study of Long COVID (2025). Nat Genet, 57:1402-1417.

Guillen-Guio B et al. Association study of human leukocyte antigen variants and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (2024). ERJ Open Res, 10:00553-2023.

Parcesepe G, Allen RJ, Guillen-Guio B, Moss S, Jenkins RG, Wain LV. Shared genetic risk factors: implications for treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and systemic hypertension (2023). ERJ Open Res. 9:00457-2023

Brightling CE, Evans RA, Singapuri A, Smith N, Wain LV, PHOSP-COVID Collaborative Group*. Long COVID research: an update from the PHOSP-COVID Scientific Summit (2023). Lancet Respir Med, 11:e93-e94. *Contribution to the Writing Group.

Nakanishi T, Willett J, Farjoun Y, Allen RJ, Guillen-Guio B, Adra D, Zhou S, Richards JB. Alternative splicing in lung influences COVID-19 severity and respiratory diseases (2023). Nat Commun, 14:6198.

Suarez-Pajes E, …, Guillen-Guio B, Villar J, Flores C. Genetic Determinants of the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (2023). J Clin Med, 12:3713.

Oldham JM, Allen RJ, Lorenzo-Salazar JM, Molyneaux PL, Ma SF, Joseph C, Kim JS, Guillen-Guio B, et al. PCSK6 and Survival in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (2023). Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 207:1515-1524..

Stewart I, …, Guillen Guio B, et al. Residual Lung Abnormalities Following COVID-19 Hospitalization: Interim Analysis of the UKILD Post-COVID Study (2023). Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 207:693-703.

Allen RJ, Oldham JM, Jenkins DA, Leavy OC, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Longitudinal lung function and gas transfer in individuals with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a genome-wide association study (2023). Lancet Respir Med, 11:65-73.

Hernandez-Beeftink T, Guillen-Guio B, et al. A Genome-Wide Association Study of Survival in Patients with Sepsis (2022). Critical Care, 26:341.

Partanen JJ, …, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Leveraging global multi-ancestry meta-analysis in the study of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis genetics (2022). Cell Genomics, 2:100181 

Allen RJ*, Guillen-Guio B*, et al. Genetic overlap between idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19 (2022). Eur Respir J, 60:2103132. *equal contribution as first authors.

Allen RJ, Stockwell A, Justin M Oldham JM, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Genome-wide association study across five cohorts identifies five novel loci associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (2022). Thorax, 77:829-833.

Suarez-Pajes E,..., Guillen-Guio B. Targeted analysis of genomic regions enriched in African ancestry reveals novel classical HLA alleles associated with asthma in Southwestern Europeans (2021). Sci Rep, 11:23686.

Hernandez-Beeftink T, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Whole-Blood Mitochondrial DNA Copies Are Associated With the Prognosis of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome After Sepsis (2021). Front Immunol, 12:737369

Suarez-Pajes E, Diaz-de Usera A, Marcelino-Rodri­guez I, Guillen-Guio B*, Flores C*. Genetic Ancestry Inference and Its Application for the Genetic Mapping of Human Diseases (2021). Int J Mol Sci, 22:6962. *equal contribution as senior authors.

Sepsis Lung Microbiome Study Group (Guillen-Guio B, et al). Could lung bacterial dysbiosis predict ICU mortality in patients with extra-pulmonary sepsis? A proof-of-concept study (2020). Intensive Care Med, 46:2118-2120.

Guillen-Guio B, et al. Admixture mapping of asthma in southwestern Europeans with North African ancestry influences (2020). Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol, 318:L965-L975.

Guillen-Guio B, et al. Sepsis-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome in individuals of European ancestry: a genome-wide association study (2020). Lancet Respir Med, 8:258-266.

Allen RJ, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Genome-Wide Association Study of Susceptibility to Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (2020). Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 201:564-574.

Hernandez-Beeftink T, Guillen-Guio B, Villar J, Flores C. Genomics and the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Current and Future Directions (2019). Int J Mol Sci, 20:16.

Lorenzo-Salazar JM, Ma SF, Jou J, Hou PC, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Novel idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis susceptibility variants revealed by deep sequencing (2019). ERJ Open Res, 5:00071-2019

Mendoza-Alvarez A, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Whole-exome sequencing identifies somatic mutations associated with mortality in metastatic clear cell kidney carcinoma (2019). Front Genet, 10:439.

Guillen-Guio B, et al. Genomic analyses at the South-western edge of human European diversity: isolation, African influence and disease links in the Canary Islands (2018). Mol Biol Evol, 35:3010-3026.

Allen RJ, Porte J, Braybrooke R, Flores C, Fingerlin TE, Oldham JM, Guillen-Guio B, et al. Genetic variants associated with susceptibility to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in people of European ancestry: a genome-wide association study (2017). Lancet Respir Med, 5:869-880.

Flores C, Guillen-Guio B. Genomic Insights Into Sepsis Course Using Whole Exome Sequencing (2016). EBioMedicine, 12:18-19.

Genetic variation in complex respiratory diseases

A+LUK Early Career Investigator Award winner (Issued by Asthma + Lung UK charity) – At British Thoracic Society Winter meeting (2022)

Extraordinary Doctoral Award of the 2019/2020 academic year at the University of La Laguna (Spain) (2020)