-Development of genomic tools to study the turnover of RNAs.
It is now evident that the control of gene expression is a multilevel process involving all stages of transcription, from the initiation to the stability of mRNAs. The complexity of this phenomenon needs new approaches to be understood, including at the genomic scale. This approach can only be performed in a model organism that has the necessary tools, such as the yeast S. cerevisiae. In our group we plan to develop and improve genetic and genomic tools to study yeast transcription in vivo and to clarify the functional networks that control the transcription of genes at a genomic scale. Our general aim is to define the mechanisms that regulate gene expression during transcription elongation and to identify the relationship between the control mechanisms of transcription and mRNA degradation for the homeostatic control of their levels. These tools are also being developed to study the pathogenic yeast model Candida albicans.

-Mechanisms of coordination between transcription and mRNA stability in yeast
The interrelationship of organisms with the environment leads to numerous situations where growth is compromised by alterations of the optimal conditions that causes stress. Stress responses are complex and include many levels. One of the most relevant is the transcriptional response. With the genomic tools developed in our laboratory we address different stress situations of practical importance in biomedicine and biotechnology: the response to osmotic stress and nitrogen deficiency in the wine yeast strain S. cerevisiae or the response to oxidative stress in C. albicans caused by the host. The first topic is financed by the panel of groups of excellence of the Generalitat Valenciana (Program "Prometeo"). The last two projects are carried out in collaboration with groups outside the University of Valencia, and the project consisting C. albicans is in practice with "PATHOGENOMICS" of the ERA-Net.

-Molecular mechanisms involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in response to environmental signals: regulation of  stability and translation of mRNAs in response to osmotic stress in the yeast strain S. cerevisiae.
In recent years it has been shown that post-transcriptional regulation occurs in parallel with the regulation of transcription in response to many extracellular signals and in many cases, especially in mammals, post-transcriptional mechanisms have a greater weight in adaptive responses. The appropriate response to each stimulus requires the quickly modification of protein levels in the cell, and for doing so there is a regulation of the mRNA degradation rates  and of the efficiency at which transcripts are translated. The overall goal of our laboratory is to discover the factors and signaling pathways involved and the mechanisms used for the control of stability and translation of mRNAs in the yeast model S. cerevisiae in response to stress.