I am a lab-based Microbiologist with over 12 years of experience (including 2 independent 3 month breaks for paternity leave) in the fields of Molecular Microbiology, Synthetic Biology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology.

I got a BSc in Biochemistry and a MSc in Biotechnology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM). During that time, I started collaborating with the laboratory of Professor Luis Ángel Fernández at the Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC). I continued that research with my PhD project, funded by Government of Madrid through a "Personal Investigador de Apoyo" fellowship. My thesis focused on two biotechnological projects. Firstly, I studied how bacteria can be used as a tool to deliver therapeutic molecules into human cells, and generated a commensal bacterial chassis based of E. coli K-12 capable of assembling a functional Type 3 Secretion System (T3SS) and injecting proteins to human cells. Secondly, I selected and produced a recombinant antibody that inhibits the infection of Enterohemorrhagic E. coli on human biopsies, which could be used as immunotherapy alternatively to antibiotics to treat bacterial intestinal infections.

I then enjoyed an EMBO Short Term Fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Gad Frankel at Imperial College (London). After that experience, I moved there as a Postdoctoral Researcher to study intestinal bacterial pathogens. My research focused on how Citrobacter rodentium, a surrogate model for the infection of pathogenic E. coli, manipulates the host enterocytes to colonize the intestine. By removing virulence (effector) genes sequentially from its genome, I analyzed the effect of over 200 different combinations of these genes in the infectivity of the pathogen. The approach led me to understand that the effectors collaborate as a network that is flexible and robust enough to withstand substantial contractions (up to 60%), and that the immune response adapts to the combination of effectors of each bacterial strain. Using the experimental information obtained from each combination, I developed an artificial neural network to predict the behavior of new effector combinations. This algorithm will help to better understand these and similar infections, and has the potential to predict the infectivity of alternative pathogenic strains. This work was published in “Science”, having a high impact both in the literature and in the media (Altmetric 244).

In 2020, I obtained a “Retorno de Talento” Fellowship (Government of Madrid) at the Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC) in Madrid. There, I led the generation of a serology test based on protein microarrays to detect antibodies against the SARS-CoV2 virus and am contributed to the development of SOLID, an instrument based on antibody microarrays for the detection of biomarkers in planetary exploration. I am also codirecting a PhD thesis on the reconstruction of ancestral proteins relevant for the origin of life on Earth. Since 2023 I am a Ramón y Cajal fellow at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (UAM-CSIC), where I have started my own research line, studying taking the effector network hypothesis as the paradigm to study the function of the T3SS effectors in vivo, the evolutionary relations of the effectors and the description of the T3SS of other intestinal pathogens.

During this time, I have also gained teaching experience, lecturing at the UAM, Imperial College London and the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. As a result, I am Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) and accredited as "Profesor contratado doctor" by the ANECA (Spain). Additionally, I have been involved in scientific outreach as a member of the Spanish Society of Researchers in the UK (SRUK), including the organization of its V International Symposium (2015), or as a member of the Committee organizing the annual cycle of Junior Seminars at the CNB-CSIC (2009-2012).

All this has been translated in the participation in 13 research projects, 18 peer-reviewed publications (including 3 book chapters and 2 as a corresponding author) and 18 contributions to conferences. I have supervised the projects of 4 undergraduate students and 1 master student and am co-directing a PhD student; and have obtained 12 grants to support my formation as a researcher. I am an expert in molecular biology techniques, cell culture, animal work, proteomics or protein purification. This experience has allowed me to establish fruitful collaborations with international laboratories including the Institute of Cancer Research (UK), the Quadram Institute Bioscience (UK), or the The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research (Israel).B.1. Breve descripción del Trabajo de Fin de Grado (TFG) y puntuación obtenida B.2. Breve descripción del Trabajo de Fin de Máster (TFM) y puntuación obtenida