CV Paula Alepuz 

I studied Chemistry at the Universities of Alicante and Valencia, Spain, where I graduated with a distinction. In 1997, I obtained a Doctorate in Chemistry with Cum Laude from the University of Valencia. In my thesis, under the supervision of Dr Francisco Estruch, I characterised a new gene from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which encodes a protein involved in the genetic response to different environmental signals. During my PhD, I spent 5 months at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (USA) in the laboratory of Dr Kyle Cunningham, where I completed part of my studies. From 1998 to 2001 I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Vienna (Austria) in the laboratory of Dr Gustav Ammerer, funded by a long-term EMBO fellowship. During this time we discovered that the yeast MAPK Hog1, homologous to human p38, when activated in response to stress, binds to numerous genes in the nucleus and promotes the cell's transcriptional response. Our results were published in Molecular Cell, and during a second postdoctoral period at the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain) in the laboratory of Dr Francesc Posas, I was able to continue this project and we published articles in the EMBO Journal and Nature showing that Hog1 bound to genes recruits specific transcription factors and RNA polymerase II to activate transcription.

My career as an independent researcher began at the end of 2003, when I obtained a contract from the competitive Spanish Ramón y Cajal programme and returned to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Valencia. In 2009, I was appointed as a tenured university professor. In 2011 I was a visiting researcher at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, where I started collaborating with Dr Per Sunnerhagen, and since 2023 I have been a full professor at the University of Valencia. I lead the Eukaryotic Gene Expression: from DNA to Protein (EGE: DtoP) group, where we study gene expression with an integrated approach to the different stages, mainly gene transcription and mRNA degradation and translation. In recent years, we have focused our efforts on the function and targets of the translational elongation factor eIF5A, an evolutionarily conserved factor essential in all eukaryotic cells and implicated in diseases such as cancer, viral infection and ageing. In recent years, we have described the peptide motifs under the control of eIF5A, found new target proteins in yeast and mammalian cells, such as formins and collagens, that require eIF5A for their synthesis, and unravelled a molecular mechanism by which eIF5A controls mitochondrial function. Most of our work is done in collaboration with national and international scientific groups and are the result of the efforts of many PhD, Master's and graduate students.

As a summary of my research, I have published around half a hundred scientific articles, I have presented more than 60 communications at conferences, I have given invited lectures at different research centres in Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden, I have directed 13 national or local research projects and I have participated in another 10 projects, 3 of them international, I am currently a secondary proposer of the European action COST Translacore. I am a member of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM) and of the national research networks RNA Life and Spanish Yeast Network (REDIL). I also regularly review scientific manuscripts in journals such as Nature Communications, NAR or PNAS, among others. I am an editor of the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology and I regularly carry out evaluation tasks for national bodies such as the National Agency for Evaluation and Prospective Studies (ANEP) and the Andalusian Agency for Knowledge (DEVA-AAC), and international bodies such as the European Commission and national evaluation agencies, private foundations or universities in Poland, Uruguay, Belgium, Sweden, the UK or Austria. I have also been actively involved in teaching, management and training activities at the University of Valencia, where I have supervised doctoral theses, master's and bachelor's theses and many undergraduate laboratory placements.

I have combined the tasks of researcher and professor with those of mother. I have had two interruptions in my work due to the birth and bringing up of my daughter (2005) and son (2010).

Finally, I participate in the tasks of scientific dissemination to society through articles at different levels, interviews with local newspapers or television stations, lectures in highschools and primary schools, and the promotion of research among students, especially girls, through lectures and experiments in schools.

Código ORCID: 0000-0003-1472-2373

Researcher ID: F-7849-2016

Scopus Author ID: 6603311983

My academic formation is biochemistry. I did my thesis under Prof. Manuel Pérez Alonso's guidance, which led to the identification of the Drosophila gene muscleblind, the founder member of the Muscleblind-like (MBNL) family of alternative splicing regulators with critical roles in human genetic diseases such as myotonic dystrophy. After 6 years of postdoctoral training in Mary Baylies' laboratory at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, in 2001 I returned to Spain with a Ramón y Cajal research contract and started my independent research career at the University of Valencia where my overarching goal is to understand the mechanisms of pathogenesis and to discover therapeutic targets and innovative treatments of human genetic diseases, with a particular focus in myotonic dystrophy. To this end, we use human samples and animal and cell models to understand the molecular basis of disease, perform drug repurposing screenings, and evaluate the activity of oligonucleotide-based drugs. We actively seek a close relationship with clinical researchers and biotech companies.

[Biography, english version]

Dr. García-Murria is a specialist in protein biochemistry with extensive interdisciplinary experience in biochemistry, molecular biology, proteomics, cell biology, and microbiology. She completed her doctoral thesis in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Valencia, during which she conducted two research stays at the Uppsala Biomedical Center of Uppsala University. Subsequently, she held a four-year postdoctoral position in the Proteomics Service at the Prince Felipe Research Center of Valencia. Upon returning to the University of Valencia, she initially worked in the area of Plant Molecular Biology and eventually joined the Membrane Proteins Laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She currently conducts her research activities focusing on the biogenesis, insertion, folding, and assembly of membrane proteins in the lipid membrane, as well as the role of transmembrane segments of human or viral proteins in apoptotic processes.

In the academic field, has been involved in university teaching since her thesis. She achieved the highest rating of excellence, scoring (200/200), in both the teaching quality evaluations as university professor, conducted from (2002-2018) and (2019-2023) by the National Agency for Evaluation and Acreditation (ANECA). Every year, she participates in several courses to improve her professional skills and teaching abilities. Since 2016, she has participated in the Motivem ideas competition, aimed at enhancing student employability through the motivating action of the teaching staff. Additionally, she is the president of the Biotechnology Undergraduate Thesis Committee and currently serves as the Secretary of the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Valencia.

I have a degree in Chemistry specialising in Biochemistry from the Universitat de València (UV, 1994). I spent 5 months in the Goerlaeus laboratories of the University of Leiden (Netherlands). After graduating, I joined the Department of Genetics of the UV, where I did my doctoral thesis with an FPI Scholarship from the Generalitat Valenciana, obtaining my doctorate in 1999. During that period, I made a short stay (1996) at the Institute of Biotechnology of Cuernavaca (Mexico). I have done postdoctoral stays in different centers of recognized prestige, IATA (CSIC) (1999). Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (UV) (1999-2002) and EMBL (Grenoble, France, 2002-2004), with a Specialization Scholarship in International Organizations. Later I joined the Department of Genetics of the UV, with a postdoctoral fellowship Carmen and Severo Ochoa (2007-2009) and from 2009 to 2012 with a contract as a Senior Research Technician. In 2012 I competed and obtained a position as Associate Professor Dr and in 2017 as University Professor.

TEACHING ACTIVITY: Since 1996 I have taught in 21 different subjects, covering undergraduate or undergraduate students from second to master's degree. I have taught these classes in 2 degrees (Biology and Chemistry) and in 6 different degrees: Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences (· BCB, 5), Biotechnology (BT, 5), Biology (Biol, 1), Double Degree Law-Criminology and Degree in Criminology (DC or C, 4) and in two master's degrees: Master in Molecular, Cellular and Genetic Biology (1) and Master in Bioinformatics (2).  I am currently coordinator of external internships of students in companies for the Degree in Biotechnology and I have the Quality Mention as a tutor of these practices. Since March 2018 I am Vice-Dean of Innovation and Quality of the Faculty of Biology. I have directed 13 final degree projects in the degrees of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology and Criminology, 6 Master's Final Projects, and the Doctoral Thesis of Dr. López-Galiano: Identification of miRNAs with predictive value as biomarkers of biotic and abiotic stress in plants of agronomic interest. 26.03.2021 and I am co-directing another. I have recognized three five-year teaching periods

EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION ACTIVITIES: Since 2018 I have participated in 12 teaching innovation projects with 6 participations in congresses or educational days

RESEARCH CAREER: In my research career I have mainly addressed the field of pathogen-host interactions from a multitude of approaches, both in terms of the range of organisms (bacteria-insects, phages-bacteria, insects-plants, viruses-humans) and the type of approach, from purely molecular and basic research (phage structures, protein-protein interactions or biochemical characterization of the mode of action of toxins) to those of clinical or field application.  I have recognized three six-year periods of research. In 2014, I participated in the Potato Beetle genome annotation project, within the i5k initiative: genome sequencing of 5000 arthropods.

TRANSFER ACTIVITY: I am co-inventor of two patents: P0201030569- Increase in the expression of recombinant sequences in eukaryotes and ES27176855- Peptide and pharmaceutical compositions of the same for use as an antimicrobial and in the treatment of cancer. I have participated in the Innosalud (2020) and Innotransfer (2020,  2021) programs  .

PEER REVIEW AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES Since 2009 I have participated as a reviewer in: Letters in  Applied Microbiology, Journal of Applied Microbiology, Cells, Plant Cell Reports, IJMS, BAOJ Biotechnology ... I participate as an external Evaluator for the National Agency for Evaluation and Foresight (ANEP) since 2015, for the Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness (IVACE) since 2019 (21 business projects evaluated) and for the UV-Ministry of Universities, for the evaluation of the University Requalification System program (2021).

DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES. Member of the Organizing Committee of Climathon-Burjassot 2019 (Climate Kick-UV), and Hackaton AgrotecUV (2021). Member of the organizing committee and the scientific congress  (Innocampus-Explora project) Innocovid19 (2020) and Innofuturo (2021 ).

PhD in Pharmacy from the Universitat de València (1991), I did a postdoctoral stay of more than 3 years at the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics (University of Utah, USA). After 15 years dedicated to the study of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae from almost any point of view (study of the cell wall, model system for the study of human tumor suppressor genes, analysis of stress and contamination in brewing yeast or global gene expression in wine yeasts), I joined the field of bacterial genomic evolution, in which I have been working since 2001 as a member of the Evolutionary Genetics group of the Universitat de València, where I am currently Full Professor of Genetics.

I do my research at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), a joint collaborative center Universitat de València - CSIC. Since 2001, my work has been mainly devoted to the study of the genome of endosymbiotic bacteria, which live inside specialized cells of insect with restricted diets (such as aphids, weevils or mealybugs), to understand the relationship between these bacteria and their hosts, the bacterial genome reduction in these conditions, and its consequences for the inferred metabolic network. As a complement to these studies, I have also been involved in studies on the definition of the minimal genome, essential for the maintenance of a living cell, and its implications in the field of Synthetic Biology.

In recent years, our consolidated model system to study symbiotic interactions is the German cockroach Blattella germanica. Cockroaches are specially interesting because two symbiotic systems coexist in each individual, an obligate endosymbiont and a complex gut microbiota. We have developed strategies to better understand the implication of each sytem in the host welfare, and their putative crosstalk. More recently, we are focusing on the host mechanisms to control the symbionts, with special interest in antimicrobial peptides and microRNAs.

Current research projects

- Host-symbiont communication and its utility in biological pest and pathogen control (SYMB-CONTROL, PID2021-128201NB-I00; co-financed MICIN-UEFEDER-AEI, EU and Spain)
- Temperature and antibiotics stress: effects on phage bacteria interactions in the gut microbiota of Blatella germanica (CIPROM/2021/042; Generalitat Valenciana, Spain).
- RNA communication across kingdoms: new mechanisms and strategies in pathogen control (exRNA-PATH, CA20110; COST action, EU)

Recent and selected publications

Cazzaniga, M., R. Domínguez-Santos, J. Marín-Miret, R. Gil, A. Latorre, C. García-Ferris (2023). Exploring gut microbial dynamics and symbiotic interaction in Blattella germanica using rifampicin. Biology 12:955. doi: 10.3390/biology12070955

Latorre, A., R. Domínguez-Santos, C. García-Ferris, R. Gil (2022). Of cockroaches and symbionts: recent advances in the characterization of the relationship between Blattella germanica and its dual symbiotic system. Live 12: 290. doi: 10.3390/life12020290

Garzón, M.J., M. Reyes-Prieto, R Gil (2022). The minimal translation machinery: what we can learn from naturally and experimentally reduced genomes. Front. Microbiol. 13:858983. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.858983

Solana, J., E. Garrote-Sánchez, R. Gil (2021). DELEAT: gene essentiality prediction and deletion design for bacterial genome reduction. BMC Bioinformatics 22:444. doi: 10.1186/s12859-021-04348-5

Domínguez-Santos R, A.E. Pérez-Cobas, P. Cuti, V. Pérez-Brocal, C. García-Ferris, A. Moya, A. Latorre, R. Gil (2021). Interkingdom gut microbiome and resistome of the cockroach Blattella germanica. mSystems 6:e01213-20. doi: 10.1128/mSystems.01213-20

Reyes-Prieto, M., R. Gil, M. Llabrés, P. Palmer-Rodríguez, A. Moya (2021). The metabolic building blocks of a minimal cell. Biology, 10:5. doi: 10.3390/biology10010005

Gil, R., A. Latorre (2019). Unity makes strength: a review on mutualistic symbiosis in representative insect clades. Life 9: 21; doi:10.3390/life9010021.

Gil, R., C. Vargas-Chavez, S. López-Madrigal, D. Santos-García, A. Latorre, A. Moya (2018). Tremblaya phenacola PPER: An evolutionary beta-gammaproteobacterium collage. ISME J. 12:124-135. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2017.144

López-Madrigal, S., R. Gil (2017). Et tu, Brute? Not even intracellular mutualistic symbionts escape horizontal gene transfer. Genes 8:247. doi: 10.3390/genes8100247

Lloréns-Rico, V., J. Cano, T. Kamminga, R. Gil, A. Latorre, W. H. Chen, P. Bork, J. I. Glass, L. Serrano, M. Lluch-Senar (2016). Bacterial antisense RNAs are mainly the product of transcriptional noise. Sci. Adv. 2:e1501363. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1501363

Klein, A., L. Schrader, R. Gil, A. Manzano-Marín, L. Flórez, D. Wheeler, J. H. Werren, A. Latorre, J. Heinze, M. Kaltenpoth, A. Moya, J. Oettler (2016). A novel intracellular mutualistic bacterium in the invasive ant Cardiocondyla obscurior. ISME J. 10:376-388. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2015.119

Gil, R., J. Peretó (2015). Small genomes and the difficulty to define minimal translation and metabolic machineries. Front. Ecol. Evol. 3:123. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2015.00123

López-Madrigal, S., A. Latorre, A. Moya, R. Gil (2015). The link between independent acquisition of intracellular gamma-endosymbionts and concerted evolution in Tremblaya princeps. Front. Microbiol. 6:642. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00642

Gil, R. (2014). The minimal gene-set machinery. In Encyclopedia of Molecular Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine: Synthetic Biology, 2nd edition. Meyers RA (ed.). Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. pp. 1-36. doi: 10.1002/3527600906.mcb.20130079

López-Madrigal, S., A. Beltrà, S. Resurrección, A. Soto, A. Latorre, A. Moya, R. Gil (2014). Molecular evidence for ongoing complementarity and horizontal gene transfer in endosymbiotic systems of mealybugs. Front. Microbiol. 5:449. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00449

Oakeson, K. F.*, R. Gil*, A. L. Clayton, D. M. Dunn, A. C. von Niederhausern, C. Hamil, A. Aoyagi, B. Duval, A. Baca, F.J. Silva, A. Vallier, D. G. Jackson, A. Latorre, R. B. Weiss, A. Heddi, A. Moya, C. Dale (2014). Genome degeneration and adaptation in a nascent stage of symbiosis. Genome Biol. Evol. 6:76-93. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evt210 *Equal contribution.

López-Madrigal, S., A. Latorre, M. Porcar, A. Moya, R. Gil (2013). Mealybugs nested endosymbiosis: going into the ‘matryoshka’system in Planococcus citri in depth. BMC Microbiol. 13:74. doi: 10.1186/1471-2180-13-74

Moya, A., R. Gil, A. Latorre., J. Peretó, M.P. Garcillán-Barcia, F. de la Cruz (2009). Towards minimal bacterial cells: evolution versus design. FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 33:225-235. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00151.x

Moya, A., J. Peretó, R. Gil, A. Latorre (2008). Learning how to live together: genomic insights into prokaryote-animal symbioses. Nature Rev. Genet. 9:218-229. doi:10.1038/nrg2319 

Tamames, J.*, R. Gil*, A. Latorre, J. Peretó, F.J. Silva, A. Moya (2006). The frontier between cell and organelle: genome analysis of Candidatus Carsonella ruddii. BMC Ecol. Evol. 7:181. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-7-181 *Equal contribution.

T. Gabaldón, J. Peretó, F. Montero, R. Gil, A. Latorre, A. Moya (2007). Structural analyses of a hypothetical minimal metabolism. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. Biol. Sci. 362:1751-1762. doi:  10.1098/rstb.2007.2067

Pérez-Brocal, V., R. Gil, S. Ramos, A. Lamelas, M. Postigo, J. M. Michelena, F. J. Silva, A. Moya, A. Latorre (2006). A small microbial genome: the end of a long symbiotic relationship? Science 314:312-313. doi: 10.1126/science.1130441

Gil, R., F. J. Silva, J. Peretó, A. Moya (2004). Determination of the core of the minimal bacterial gene set. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 68: 518-537. doi: 10.1128/MMBR.68.3.518-537.2004

Gil, R., B. Sabater-Muñoz, A. Latorre, F. J. Silva, A. Moya (2002). Extreme genome reduction in Buchnera spp.: towards the minimal genome needed for symbiotic life. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 4454-4458. doi: 10.1073/pnas.062067299

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.

Carlos Martí-Gastaldo is a Spanish chemist (Premio Extraordinario de Licenciatura) who was

initially trained in Coordination Chemistry and Molecular Magnetism in E. Coronado´s group at

the ICMol-University of Valencia. He received his PhD in Chemistry in 2009 for his work on

‘Multifunctional Magnetic Materials by using Coordination Polymers and 2D Layered Inorganic

Materials’, that was recognized with the ‘Young Researcher Olivier Kahn Recognition’ awarded

by the European Institute of Molecular Magnetism, the ‘NanoMatMol Prize’ to the best thesis in

Nanoscience and Molecular Materials awarded by the GENAM group of the RSEQ, and the

‘Premio Extraordinario de Tesis’ awarded by the Universidad de València He then shifted his

focus to apply his training to the design of Metal-Organic Frameworks during his postdoctoral

stage as a Marie Curie Fellow in M. J. Rosseinsky’s group at the University of Liverpool (2010-

2012). During this postdoctoral stage he was awarded with the ‘Postdoc SusChem Prize’ to young

chemistry investigators by the RSEQ and the Spanish Technological Platform of Sustainable

Chemistry (2011).

He began his independent career in 2013 in Liverpool, with the award of a Royal Society

University Research Fellowship (~40 awarded in the UK annually). In 2014, he returned to the

ICMol with a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship (~15 awarded in Chemistry annually) to lead the design

of highly stable MOFs, one of the strategic research lines of the 1st ‘María de Maeztu’ Excellence

program awarded to the center. With the award of an ERC Starting Grant in 2016, he established

his own research group at the ICMol. The Functional Inorganic Materials team (FuniMAT) is

focused on the design and processing of porous inorganic materials for biological and

environmental-related applications. He founded the start-ups ‘Porous Materials for Advanced

Applications’ (2018) and ‘Porous Materials in Action’ (2021) to accelerate the transfer of research

results into socially useful products and services. He received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2021

and is one of the guarantor investigators of the 2nd ‘María de Maeztu’ Excellence program of

ICMol (2021-2024), and main responsible of the implementation of a new research line for the

Molecular Design of Biomaterials in the center.

His independent trajectory has been recognized with the ‘Excelencia Investigadora Prize by the

Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ) y BASF’ (2022), the ‘RSEQ-Sigma-Aldrich Young

Investigator Prize’ (2015), the ‘X Scientific-Technical Prize Ciudad de Algemesí’ for young

investigators awarded by Ayuntamiento de Algemesí (2015), and the VLC/StartUp Prize in two

editions (2022 & 2018) to the 2 start-ups created by the PI. Since 2021, Martí-Gastaldo also acts

as the Equal opportunities representative of the ICMol at the gender equality commission of the

‘Severo Ochoa’ Centres and ‘María de Maeztu’ Units of Excellence Alliance (SOMMa).

Research career

My research career began during the last year of my Bsc in Biology at the University of Alicante (UA), where I carried out an experimental final degree project on virus-host interactions in hypersaline environments, under the supervision of Professor Josefa Antón. After that, I took several postgraduate courses focused on Microbiology and Biochemistry, including two official masters: one in Secondary School Teaching (UA) and another in Molecular, Cellular and Genetic Biology Research (Universitat de València, UV).

In 2015 I joined the Biotechnological Pest Control group (CBP) of the University Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (UV), where I developed a project in collaboration with the AFRASA S.A. industries, aimed at designing a bioinsecticide based on native strains of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) against lepidopteran pests. Later on, I obtained an FPU grant (training of university teachers), thanks to which I carried out a doctoral thesis focused on the biochemical basis of resistance to Cry1 and Vip3 proteins produced by Bt and their interaction with intestinal receptors in insect pests. The thesis, co-directed by Juan Ferré and Patricia Hernández Martínez, obtained the qualification of “Cum Laude” with “International Mention” and was later awarded with the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize in the area of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.

During this stage I carried out a research stay at the Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS, USA), where I applied genomic editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 to lepidopteran pests. I also established collaborations with international institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), the University of Tennessee or Imperial College London, which resulted in several publications as first author in scientific journals and award-winning presentations at national and international conferences.

After my PhD, I worked in different University-Industry agreements in the field of biological pest control, in collaboration with companies such as BASF and Bayer-CropScience. Currently, I am participating in an international project funded by the Human Frontier Science Program Organization, under the supervision of Cristina Crava, in collaboration with researchers from Peru, UK and Spain. In this framework, I have also supervised laboratory internship students. In addition, I have made a stay at the Francis Crick Institute (London), thanks to a José Castillejo grant (Ministry of Universities), where I studied the infection of the nervous system of Spodoptera exigua by baculovirus.

Throughout my scientific career I have consolidated a solid experience in molecular biology and entomology, especially in the interaction between lepidopteran pests and biological control agents such as B. thuringiensis and baculoviruses.

Teaching career

I have been actively involved in university teaching since my doctoral period, mainly in the Department of Genetics (UV), where I taught more than 300 hours of sessions, mostly practical, in subjects such as Genetics, Molecular Genetics, Molecular Methods in Biology and Criminal Analysis Techniques. These activities were developed in the degrees of Biotechnology, Biology and Criminology.

Recently, I have worked as a Substitute Professor, teaching theoretical and practical classes of Biochemistry in the degrees of Food Science and Technology and Gastronomic Sciences, experience that has allowed me to consolidate my teaching skills at the university level in an interdisciplinary environment.

I have always shown a strong commitment to teaching quality, so I enjoy participating in various training activities in innovative educational methodologies, digital tools and development of transversal competencies. This training has allowed me to incorporate updated and integrative approaches to my teaching practice, with special attention to scientific evidence and student motivation.

Personal data

JUAN J. TARIN, Phone +34-963543221, email: juan.j.tarin@uv.es, scientific identifier: Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID): 0000-0002-4436-5162.

Current professional status

Full Professor of Physiology, Dept. Center: Cellular Biology, Functional Biology and Physical Anthropology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Universitat de València.