Beatriz Romero Martínez
Appointments:
Unit Chief of MYC. VISAVET Centre. UCM
Subdirector de Gestión, Recursos Humanos y Docencia. VISAVET Centre. UCM
Qualifications:
PhD in Veterinary Sciences
Degree in Biological Sciences
Contact
Biography
Degree in Biology at the Complutense University of Madrid (1996-2001) and PhD from the same University within the Veterinary Sciences program with the thesis entitled "Bovine Tuberculosis: its molecular epidemiology and its implication in Animal Health and Public Health" (2010).
She currently works as deputy director of the European Union Reference Laboratory (EU-RL) for Bovine Tuberculosis, located at the VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre of the UCM and she is also the Head of the Mycobacteria Unit. Her main research activity is related to the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis in animals and molecular epidemiology of this disease. In addition, she is responsible for quality assurance in this area according to the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard for testing laboratories to ensure the technical competence.
Author of more than 90 scientific publications in indexed journals and more than 140 presentations at national and international congresses. Shee has participated in more than 20 national and international projects, as well as in R&D contracts of special relevance with companies and / or administrations. She collaborates as a reviewer for various international journals and has been included among the 20 leading experts on bovine tuberculosis in the world according to the Expertscape web portal. In recent years, she has been involved in the evaluation, improvement and development of new methodologies for laboratory diagnosis and detection of tuberculosis in animals.
She currently works as deputy director of the European Union Reference Laboratory (EU-RL) for Bovine Tuberculosis, located at the VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre of the UCM and she is also the Head of the Mycobacteria Unit. Her main research activity is related to the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis in animals and molecular epidemiology of this disease. In addition, she is responsible for quality assurance in this area according to the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard for testing laboratories to ensure the technical competence.
Author of more than 90 scientific publications in indexed journals and more than 140 presentations at national and international congresses. Shee has participated in more than 20 national and international projects, as well as in R&D contracts of special relevance with companies and / or administrations. She collaborates as a reviewer for various international journals and has been included among the 20 leading experts on bovine tuberculosis in the world according to the Expertscape web portal. In recent years, she has been involved in the evaluation, improvement and development of new methodologies for laboratory diagnosis and detection of tuberculosis in animals.
Investigation

Research lines:

Next scientific publications:
- Ferreras-Colino E., Descalzo E., Romero B., Gortazar C. and Ferreras P.. Mycobacterium bovis in Egyptian mongoose, Spain. Zoonoses and Public Health, 70(4):365-368. (A)
- Pozo P., Bezos J., Romero B., Grau A., Nacar J., Saez-Llorente JL., Minguez O. and Alvarez J.. Once bitten twice shy: Risk factors associated with bovine tuberculosis recurrence in Castilla y Leon, Spain. Research in Veterinary Science. (A)
Last scientific publications:
- Preite L., Barroso P., Romero B., Balseiro A. and Gortazar C.. Struggling to improve farm biosecurity: Do free advice and subsidies hit the target?. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 212:105839. 2023. (A)
- Herrero-Garcia G., Acevedo P., Quiros P., Prieto M., Romero B., Amado J., Queipo MA., Gortazar C. and Balseiro A.. Tuberculosis Epidemiology and Spatial Ecology at the Cattle-Wild Boar Interface in Northern Spain. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 2147191. 2023. (A)
- Ortega J., de Juan L., Sevilla IA., Garrido JM., Velasco C., Romero B., Dominguez M., Perez del Val B., Nebot C., Saez-Llorente JL., Alvarez J. and Bezos J.. Effect of a recent parenteral dexamethasone and ketoprofen administration on the immunological diagnosis of tuberculosis in goats. Frontiers in veterinary science, 9:1042428. 2022. (A)
- Pozo P., Lorente-Leal V., Robbe-Austerman S., Hicks J., Stuber T., Bezos J., de Juan L., Saez-Llorente JL., Romero B., Alvarez J. and on behalf of the Spanish Network on Surveillance Monitoring of Animal Tuberculosis.. Use of Whole-Genome Sequencing to Unravel the Genetic Diversity of a Prevalent Mycobacterium bovis Spoligotype in a Multi-Host Scenario in Spain. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13:915843. 2022. (A)
- Ortega J., Infantes-Lorenzo JA., Roy A., de Juan L., Romero B., Moreno I., Dominguez M., Dominguez L. and Bezos J.. Factors affecting the performance of P22 ELISA for the diagnosis of caprine tuberculosis in milk samples. Research in Veterinary Science, 145:40-45. 2022. (A)

Last PhD thesis supervised:
- Víctor Lorente Leal. New Methodologies for the Diagnosis of Bovine Tuberculosis. 2023.
- Pilar Pozo Piñol. Use of Epidemiological Analytic Tools and Molecular Characterization Techniques to Inform Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Programs. 2020.(Doctorado Europeo)
Outreach

Last outreach publications:
- Velasco-Reinaldos C., Ortega J., Lorente-Leal V., Romero B., de Juan L. and Bezos J.. Nuevas metodologías para el diagnóstico ante-mortem de la tuberculosis bovina, ¿tiene futuro?. Tierras Vacuno, 1, Novaágora. 2023.
- Lorente-Leal V., Pozo P., Bezos J., Alvarez J., Perez del Val B., Gortazar C., de Juan L. and Romero B.. La secuenciación masiva al servicio de la Tuberculosis. Actualidad redrisa.es, Red de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (RISA). 2023.
- de Juan L., Alvarez J., Balseiro A., Bezos J., Bru G., Garrido J., Gonzalez S., Gortazar C., Martinez A., Perez B. and Romero B.. Tuberculosis. Conocida y compartida. Actualidad redrisa.es, Red de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (RISA). 2022.
- Cruz F., Gonzalez S., Barcena C., Bezos J., Buendia A., Briones V., Camino E., Fores P., Garcia N., Mazariegos M., Perez-Sancho M., Romero B. and de Juan L.. Infequus: Plataforma de enfermedades infecciosas equinas. Jornada Aprendizaje Eficaz con TIC en la UCM. Ed. 1. Ediciones Complutense. 2022.
- Romero B., Bezos J., de Juan L., Lozano F., Gonzalez S., Perales A. and Saez JL.. Toma y envío de muestras para diagnóstico mediante PCR directa y cultivo microbiológico en infecciones por miembros del Complejo Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación (MAPA) y Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). UCM.. 2021.

Last communications:
- Romero B.. Diagnóstico microbiológico de la tuberculosis. Identificación del agente etiológico. Manual y normativa aplicable. Toma de muestras. Curso de formación en los aspectos teóricos, prácticos y de base legal en el diagnóstico de la tuberculosis bovina. 2023. (Oral communication)
- Romero B.. The increasing use of molecular diagnostics in the fight against bovine TB. World TB day. Diagnostics and science: a One Health perspective. 2023. (Online communication)
- Romero B.. Protocolo del EURL para el diagnóstico de la infección por el Mycobacteryum tuberculosis complex. Uso de pruebas de diagnóstico etiológico. Curso de actualización unificado tuberculosis bovina. 2023. (Oral communication)
- Romero B.. Diagnóstico microbiológico de la tuberculosis. Identificación del agente etiológico. Manual y normativa aplicable. Toma de muestras. Curso de formación en los aspectos teóricos, prácticos y de base legal en el diagnóstico de la tuberculosis bovina. 2023. (Oral communication)
- Romero B.. Actividades del EU-RL for Bovine Tuberculosis. Curso de formación en los aspectos teóricos, prácticos y de base legal en el diagnóstico de la tuberculosis bovina. 2023. (Oral communication)