About Me

I obtained my degree in Biological Sciences in 2006 from the Universidad de Sevilla, including a collaboration period of 2 years (1 supported by MEC fellow) at the Microbiology department. I did my PhD under the supervision of Dr. Francisco J. Florencio in the Universidad de Sevilla and the Institute of Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis (IBVF) a mixed centre Universidad de Sevilla-CSIC. During this period, I studied the mechanisms of copper resistance in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 for which I had the funding of an excellence scholarship from the Junta de Andalucia. After my PhD I joined the research group of Dr Matthias E. Futschik at University of Algarve (Faro, Portugal) associated with the Center for Marine Sciences (CCMAR) as a FCT Fellow (2014-2016). I applied transcriptomic analysis to study the nitrogen homeostasis system controlled by NtcA in Synechocystis. In this period I made a short-term stay in the Paula Tamagnini group at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMC) in Porto (Portugal). In 2017 I joined the Laboratory of Intracellular Bacterial Pathogens at CNB (Madrid) led by Francisco García del Portillo, where I worked on two main lines: the sequencing of Salmonella isolates from infected patients and the stress response of the Salmonella cell envelope. In 2018 I was hired as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and I joined the Comparative Genomics and Metagenomics group of Dr. Jaime Huerta-Cepas at the CBGP in Madrid. In the CBGP-UPM I combined my research centered in the analysis of metagenomic data with the teaching work at the Department of Biotechnology. In September 2023 I obtained a Ramón y Cajal Fellow in the University of Seville.  

I have published 22 papers in peer reviewed journals such as Nature, PNAS or Nucleic Acid Research (5 corresponding authors, 10 first author and 6 as second author) that have been cited more than 850 times with an H-index of 13 (google scholar). I have participated in 11 national and international R&D projects and in one international network SALMOIBER-CYTED. I have presented 31 communications in national and international conferences. I have (co-)organized 3 regional meeting in Bioinformatic (BioinfoCAM 2019-20 and 21, Madrid) and two international courses (Introduction to R programming Faro, 2015 and# EuroMicroMOOC, Madrid, 2018).

My past and current research lines include i) studying metal homeostasis in cyanobacteria and bacteria ii) studying the stress response in bacteria using transcriptomic techniques iii) studying and charactering the phylogenetic variability among gene families related to secretion system and stress response iv) discovering and characterizing novel gene functions and unknown organism from massive metagenomic data, with special focus on the resistome.

I have taught over 750 hours of teaching at university (Universidad de Algarve, US and UPM). I have (co)-supervised 10 MSc and 4 BSc (Universidad de Algarve and UPM).

For more information visit my ORCID profile

Not everything is science. I love playing board games; I might have more than 150 different board games, and I could have played over 200 different board games. I enjoy collectible card games, but we both know they're a quick way to lose money, don't you think? You'll always find me available for a good board game session. I love movies, and I'm one of those who thinks that The Dark Knight is one of the best superhero films ever made. Music also captivates me, and almost all musical styles are welcome. I love exploring the origins of Rock, Heavy, and Progressive Music. Absolutely fan of the Lord of the Rings Universe