Fitxa persona

Historial investigador. With more than 35 years of research experience, my pre-doctoral training focused on heterotrophic bacteria in aquatic ecosystems and concluded with the PhD Thesis "Phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of environmental strains of Pseudomonas" (Extraordinary Prize 1992). My postdoctoral training at the Technical University of Munich focused on molecular taxonomy, including nucleic acid sequencing, the design of probes for the detection and in situ identification (FISH) of Vibrio vulnificus, a human and eel pathogen, in aquatic environments, and its typing by ribotyping and RAPD profiling. Since March 1996, I lead the research group on "Molecular Taxonomy" as a researcher (Extended Scientific Staff Member) at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA, CSIC, Valencia). My research career in food microbiology focuses on the development and application of PCR techniques for the detection, quantification and identification of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and viruses) covering aspects of food safety and quality: Development of rapid methods based on "real-time PCR" for the quantitative detection of food pathogens (enteric bacteria and viruses) as well as their viable/infectious forms (vqPCR); Validation of PCR methods for the detection of pathogens in food matrices and water and their adaptation to routine analysis. Another of my research lines focuses on lactic acid bacteria from traditional fermented foods: isolation, identification and biotechnological characterisation for functional food applications. Research has been funded by 53 national, international and regional projects (24 as PI, with a total budget of more than ¿3.8 million). In the field of functional foods, through the μ-Andes project 'Microbiota of Andean foods: Tradition of healthy products' (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES GA no. 247650) characterised natural populations of traditional Andean fermented products, generating a large collection of lactic acid bacteria, and through the ProInfant project "Plant foods with probiotic functionality for malnourished child populations" (PCIN-2017-003-CYTED P916PTE0233) which includes an intervention study, a selected strain was evaluated as a probiotic in malnourished child populations in Guatemala. In the first project, after research stays in Mexico and Argentina, a fruitful collaboration was initiated that led to a second project in which the collaboration was extended to Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru. In addition, a cereal-based kefir-type functional food enriched in riboflavin was designed with strains from the μ-Andes project. Regarding bacterial identification by molecular techniques, I led the project 'Development of a library of MALDI-TOF profiles for the identification of bacterial strains present in drinking water (DRINKING WATER LIBRARY)' (RTC-2015-4496-2, 2015-2018), which has contributed to expand the database of MALDI-TOF profiles revealing that 1/3 of the unidentified profiles correspond to new taxa. In addition, leading the project 'Microbiological safety of fresh-cut vegetables: development of new diagnostic methods (AGL2009-08603/ALI, 2009-2012) established qPCR/qRT-PCR viability procedures for the quantitative detection and differentiation of viable pathogenic bacteria and infectious enteric viruses (norovirus, HAV) that are being applied in food safety. I have supervised 9 doctoral theses (one more in progress) and 8 Master theses. Currently, I am Director of the Spanish Type Culture Collection (at UVEG) (since 2012) and Coordinator of both the Spanish Network of Microorganisms (REDESMI) and the Spanish Network of Excellence (MicroBioSpain, www.microbiospain.org). Both actions have been supported by the projects RMP2015-00001-00-00 and CGL2016-81969-REDT. In addition, I am coordinator of the Spanish node of the 'Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure, MIRRI-ERIC' and Vice-President of the National Forum of MIRRI-ERIC Coordinators. I have been involved in the construction of MIRRI-ERIC since 2012 and leading both the first EU project 'MIRRI' for the design of the RI and the following one 'IS_MIRRI21' for its implementation and sustainability. I am a member of Scientific Advisory Committees: ISAB RARe - International Scientific Advisory Board Agro-BRC RARe (since 2020); Advisory Board of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition, Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs (2010 - 2012); Member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Society of Microbiology (SEM) since 2012; National Group for Standardisation in Microbiology of AENOR AEN / CTN34 / SC4 / GT06 since 2005..