My research aims to reveal the fundamental basis of desiccation and low temperature stress tolerance in seeds and other plant propagules, particularly in relation to successful cryopreservation. In addition, I am interested in the variation in longevity in plant propagules, from bryophyte and fern spores as a unicellular model to more complex systems. Often these studies involve making structural and biophysical determinations. At the university, I carry out teaching activities in Botany. I also carry out training activities on cryobiotechnology for technical staff and researchers and supervise undergraduate (MSc and PhD) students and postdocs.

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]

MªPilar is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Earth Observation. Her research focuses on the translation of biophysical properties of plants into chlorophyll fluorescence emission and reflectance. It involves experiments ranging from the growth chamber to the greenhouse and whole agricultural fields.

Mária Džunková got her first experience with the high throughput DNA sequencing at the Czech Academy of Sciences at the time when she  studied at the University of Life Sciences in Prague (2005-2010). Then she moved to Spain for her PhD studies at the University of Valencia (2010-2016) which included a research stay at the Harvard University (2014). After defending her PhD thesis entitled ”Metagenomics of the Human Gut Microbiome Directed by the Flow Cytometry” she got a postdoc position at the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics at the University of Queensland (2016-2019), where she developed “single-cell viral tagging” method for exploring the phage host range without the need for microbial culturing and applied it to the human gut microbiome. She was invited to a second postdoc (2016-2021) at the DOE Joint Genome Institute (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) to continue with her microbial single-cell genomics techniques. In California she studied the relationships between the phages and bacteria in environmental samples and explored new targeted single-cell genomics techniques for discovering symbiotic microbes of the marine soft-bodied animals capable of producing bioactive molecules. She joined the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio) in December 2021 to set up her Microbial Single-Cell Genomics research group.

[Biography, english version]

Isaac Garrido Benavent (Quatretonda, 1988) has a degree in Biology from the University of Valencia (2011), a Master's degree in Biodiversity-Botany from the University of Barcelona (2012), and a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University Complutense of Madrid (2017). The doctoral stage was supported by a University Teacher Training (FPU) grant, enjoyed at the National Museum of Natural Sciences, which belongs to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). He is currently working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany and Geology of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the UV (2020). His research encompasses different approaches to the diversity, taxonomy, phylogeny and phylogeography of lichenized and non-lichenized fungi of the Antarctic and the Mediterranean. His studies have led to more than 47 publications in different scientific journals. He collaborates with different national (UV, MNCN-CSIC, RJB-CSIC) and international research groups. He is a reviewer for numerous scientific journals, and editor of the Valencian Mycological Society Bulletin (SOMIVAL). He is also a reviewer of scientific projects for the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) since 2018. He has given courses in mycology and phylogeny in academic and socio-cultural fields.

Fernando Gonzalez Candelas, PhD (University of Valencia, 1987) is Professor of Genetics at the University of Valencia since 2006 and head of the “Evolution and Health” Research Unit at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology UV-CSIC (I2SysBio) at the same university. In addition, he has a joint appointment at the FISABIO-Public Health through the joint research unit “Infection and Public Health” with the University of Valencia and at the CIBERESP (Centre for Networked Research on Biomedicine – Public Health and Epidemiology).
    My main research interests are in population and evolutionary genetics, molecular and evolutionary epidemiology, molecular systematics and genomics, bioinformatics and conservation biology. I am currently working on the molecular evolutionary epidemiology of different pathogens, mainly RNA viruses, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and bacteria, such as Legionella pneumophila, Treponema pallidum, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Our basic approach is the analysis of nucleotide sequence variability at different levels, from intrapatient to world-wide samples, and from particular genes to complete genomes, depending on the specific goals of the different projects. Previously I have studied the population and evolutionary biology of Mediterranean endemic Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) species, by using an array of genetic markers (RAPDs, AFLPs, microsatellites, isozymes) and including the analysis of quantitative traits. I have published more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific papers and written two books.

I am Distinguished Researcher at the Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Valencia and Honorary Lecturer at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation from the University of Exeter. My interests include the spatial modelling of species distributions and human activities in marine and coastal areas, using ocean observing systems and new marine technologies.

Emilia Matallana Redondo is full Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the University of Valencia and member of the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I²SysBio), a joint collaborative research institute involving Universitat de València and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). She has broad experience in yeast molecular biology and her research during the last 20 years has been oriented to wine yeast biotechnology, area where she has published more than 40 JCR papers in international journals. Furthermore, she has leaded several research projects aimed to yeast biotechnological improvement, mainly for the food industry but also for other purposes, as bioethanol production in collaboration with industrial partners. She has participated in different research evaluation agencies (ANEP, CIEMAT, ERA-IB), as expert in food biotechnology. In parallel to her research in biotechnology, she has developed broad teaching and scientific communication activity in that field, and more specifically on genetically manipulated organisms (GMOs), their scientific fundamentals, benefits, and potential risks. She has given numerous lectures for general public, prepared an introductory course on Biotechnology for more-than-55 years-old people, and also audiovisual materials for the Universitat de València.

I studied simultaneously Biology and Philosophy at the Universitat de València (UV), obtaining a Ph.D. in Biology in 1983, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1988. I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Davis (USA), in 1985-1986, and I have been invited Prof. in the University of California, Irvine (USA), in 1988 and 1994. After coming back from my post doctorate in the USA, in 1986, I created the Evolutionary Genetics Research Group at the Department of Genetics of the UV, where I am Prof. of Genetics since 1993, and have been its Director from 1995 to 1998. I was the promoter of the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology at the UV. I also promoted the creation of the Astrobiology Centre (CSIC-INTA), the Public Health Research Centre (CSISP), now integrated into the Valencian Region Foundation for the Promotion of Health (FISABIO) and the Integrative Systems Biology Centre (UV and Spanish Research Council, CSIC). Currently, I chair the Institutional Professorship FISABIO-UV.

I am author of about six hundred publications about Genetics, Evolution and Philosophy of Biology. My most significant contributions are in the fields of Symbiosis and Bacterial Genomics. I am involved in the study of the Human and Animal Microbiomes under an Evolutionary and Systems Biology perspective.

I am founder member of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, the Spanish Society of Virology and the Spanish Society of Evolutionary Biology, from which I was president between 2009-2017.

I received the "Ciutat de Barcelona Award for Scientific Research" (1996), "Diario Médico Award" (2006), "Diploma of the President of the Valencian Government for excellence in Biomedical Research" (2010), "National Genetics Award" (2012), "Lilly Foundation Biomedical Research Award" (2013), "Mexico Award in Science and Technology" (2015), "Doctor Honoris Causa by Menendez Pelayo International University" (UIMP, Santander, 2016). I am a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1998.

[Biography, english version]

I did my undergraduate studies in Industrial Design Engineering and then I did two master's degrees: Biomedical Engineering (specializing in Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Techniques), and Bioinformatics and Biostatistics. Finally, I have a PhD from the University of Valencia in the Doctor of Medicine program.

My professional career has always been related to biomedical research. For 7 years I worked in tissue engineering, specifically in the regeneration of connective tissues such as bone and articular cartilage. Currently, I have changed my area of study and I am doing my postdoc in microbiology, focusing on the pathogen Vibrio vulnificus, which is very important in the world of aquaculture.

Dr Torres-Pérez (he/him) is a neurobiologist interested on the epigenetic landscape regulating neural development and its impact on neurodegenerative disorders. He is currently working at University of Valencia (UV) as a distinghuished researcher under the Maria Zambrano's program (Ministry of Universities, Spain). He has been successfully involved in a wide range of multi-disciplinary projects spanning from clinical settings to academic scenarios with engineers/materials scientists and experimental psychologists.

Dr Torres-Pérez gained his undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Valencia (UV) and then moved to Oxford for a 6-month internship at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. After that, Dr Torres-Pérez did a MRes in Neuroscience at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. For his PhD in Clinical Medicine Research, Dr Torres-Pérez worked with Dr Istvan Nagy at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Imperial College London. He investigated the role different epigenetic tags, mainly histone post-translational modifications, play on the transition from acute to chronic pain at neurons and glial cells of both spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia.

Dr Torres-Pérez has held two postdoctoral positions at Queen Mary University of London. First at the School of Engineering and Materials Science, where he was performing high-resolution electrophysiology of primary cilia and single cell calcium recordings. Secondly, at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, where he used zebrafish as a reverse genetic model for comparative cognition.

Member of International Scientific Board UNESCO on Global Change

Vice-president of International Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy

President of Spanish National Committee IGCP UNESCO

Current project: Regenerating the Time Lords: Towards the completion, calibration, digitization and outreach of the geological time scale. Redefining the base of the Emsian; in search of the GSSP. Funding: International Union of Geological Sciences. Duration: 2020-2022. Main researcher

Leader of UV Research Group on Palaeozoic Palaeontology and Palaeogeography of invertebrates, vertebrates and plants (PALPALPAL), ref. GIUV2017-395.

https://www.uv.es/uvweb/servicio-investigacion/es/grupos-investigacion/grupo-1285949714098.html?p2=GIUV2017-395

I obtained my Bachelor, Postgraduate and PhD degrees in the University of Valencia, Spain. My doctoral research focused on the role of pattern recognition receptors expressed by hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in the detection of Candida albicans and the emergency myelopoiesis response. I was awarded with a “Outstanding PhD Thesis” from the University of Valencia.

In 2011, I joined the Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, USA, as a postdoctoral fellow. During this time, I studied the differentiation and function of myeloid cells (macrophages, dendritic cells and neutrophils) with specific application to anti-microbial immunity, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. I obtained a Young Investigator Award from the International Endotoxin and Innate Immunity Society, a Careers in Immunology Fellowship Award by The American Association of Immunologists and a Career-Enhancement Award from the American Society of Hematology.

In 2018, I established my independent research group at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as an Assistant Professor. In 2019, I received a Ramón y Cajal award from the Ministry of Education and Science, Spain, and I moved back to the University of Valencia, Spain.

My lab is interested in: 1) defining the cellular and molecular pathways activated for emergency myelopoiesis in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells during candidiasis, 2) unveiling the mechanisms of innate trained immunity induced by fungal infections, and 3) studying the use of microbial components to induce terminal differentiation of malignant cells in some hematologic disorders, such as acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.