Fitxa persona

Born in Vinaròs (1961). Professor of Genetics at the School of Biological Sciences. He got a degree in Biological Sciences (Biochemistry) and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Valencia, with an extraordinary doctorate award.
His scientific career began as a predoctoral fellow of the Generalitat Valenciana at the University of Valencia. He did a two-year postdoctoral stay in the laboratory of Prof. Francisco J. Ayala from the University of California at Irvine (USA), and short stays as a visiting professor at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, and at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He was a researcher for 14 years at the “Cavanilles” Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, of the University of Valencia, and in the last eight years, he has been a researcher in the Systems Biology of yeasts of biotechnological interest Group at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA), CSIC, through an agreement between  CSIC and the University of Valencia.
During his research career, he has worked in different lines of research such as the molecular evolution of Drosophila, the evolution of RNA viruses, and the role of chaperonins in bacterial endosymbiosis. In recent years, his research work has focused on the study, through comparative genomics and the analysis of 'omic' data, of the molecular mechanisms involved in the generation of genetic innovations that explain the adaptation of yeasts of the genus Saccharomyces in fermentative environments, responsible for their properties of biotechnological interest.
He has participated in 26 competitive research projects, of which 9 as principal investigator. He is the author of more than one hundred articles in international journals indexed in the Science Citation Index. He has mentored 12 doctoral theses, supervised 3 postdoctoral researchers, and has been recognized for five six-year years periods of research.
His teaching activity currently focuses on subjects in the degrees in Biology and Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, in addition to the master's degree in R&D in Biotechnology and Biomedicine. He participated in the creation of the Master's Degree in Bioinformatics, being a member of its academic coordination committee for more than five years. He has six recognized five-year teaching periods. He was a member of the Senate of the University of Valencia and the faculty board of the School of Biological Sciences, during different periods.[Biography, English version]