Biography

After completing my Bachelor’s in Biochemistry in 1998, obtaining the Third National Prize of Accomplishment in University Studies, I got a FPDI fellowship from the Andalusian Regional Government and joined Dr. Carmen Pueyo’s laboratory at the University of Córdoba. Under her supervision, I investigated the cellular response to oxidative stress in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. My predoctoral research resulted in 5 articles in international journals. My training was complemented with other activities such as the “Yeast Genetics” course in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (NY, USA). I earned my Ph.D. with the highest distinction in 2003.

After my PhD, I pursued postdoctoral training in Dr. Angelika Amon’s group in the Center for Cancer Research at MIT (USA), supported by fellowships from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and The Charles A. King Trust (Bank of America). There, I made key contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms that ensure a correct positioning of the mitotic spindle and about the role of Aurora B kinase in the regulation of chromosomal attachments during meiosis. This work led to 5 publications in leading international journals, including two first-author papers in Cell and Developmental Cell.

In 2008, I began my independent research career with a “Ramón y Cajal” contract at CABIMER, where I became head of the “Cell division control” laboratory and established new research lines consistently supported by competitive funding. In 2016, I was finally appointed CSIC Staff Scientist in the same center, being promoted as Scientific Researcher in 2025. My group has made important contributions to the study of the mechanisms that control cell division and ensure a proper genome distribution during this process, with publications in top-tier journals including Nature Cell Biology, eLife, Current Biology, PNAS, and Journal of Cell Biology. We have also collaborated with multiple groups and participated in national research networks, such as “Conexión Cáncer CSIC” or the “CHROMODYST” Network of Excellence.