Biography

After completing my PhD at the University of Seville (FPU fellowship) and completing a 4.5-year postdoctoral stay at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Patrick Charnay) in Paris (FEBS fellowship, Marie Curie contract, AFM fellowship), I returned to Seville with a Ramón y Cajal contract and obtained the position of Senior Scientist at the CSIC in 2008. During the thesis period I acquired a solid training in molecular biology and biochemistry, especially in transcriptional and enzymatic regulation, with an outstanding publication in PNAS describing a new glutamine synthetase inactivation system. During a brief stay in Canberra I crystallized a new PII signaling protein. The postdoc in Paris focused on the study of the development of the central nervous system of vertebrates, specifically on the Ebf genes in neuronal differentiation (Development) and the SUMO ligase PIAS2 in the development of the hindbrain, as an antagonist of the KROX20 transcription factor (EMBO J). I continued the research on SUMO in Spain and began to study a family of proteins linked to cancer, the BET proteins (BRD2, BRD3, BRD4, BRDT), involved in transcriptional activation and cell cycle progression, capable of recognizing acetylated histones. After obtaining a position as a Senior Scientist at the CSIC, I created my research group at CABIMER, the Cellular Differentiation Laboratory (2009). Since then, the group has focused on: 1) Function of SUMO and SUMO proteases in differentiation, cell viability and cancer, 2) BET proteins in cancer, COVID-19 and other diseases.

We have identified an essential dimerization domain in BET proteins (J Cell Sci), described Pleiotrophin antagonism of BRD2 during neurogenesis (J Cell Sci), and assigned a role to the LYAR-BRD2 interaction in controlling the expression of the pluripotency factor Nanog after inducing differentiation (J Mol Biol). We have also shown that NIPBL, the cohesin loading factor associated with Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS), interacts with the ET domain of BRD4 to regulate the expression of developmental genes, explaining why mutations in BRD4 show a CdLS-like phenotype (Cell Death Dis). We have characterized interaction of the SARS-CoV-2 E protein with BET members (Cell Mol Life Sci). Regarding SUMO, we have described that KROX20 is a SUMO ligase for the modification of its NAB corepressors (EMBO Rep) and we have identified the SUMO protease SENP7 as an essential factor for neurogenesis (Biochim Biophys Acta MCR) and as a cell viability promoting factor in tumor cells under oxygen and glucose limiting conditions (OGD), being a prognostic marker for colon cancer (Genes Dis). Through proteomic approaches, on one hand we have identified differentially sumoylated proteins between proliferation and differentiation. Among these, we have described the transcription factor UTF1 as a SUMO target for the first time, with SUMO modulating its affinity for chromatin and mediating the recruitment of the decapping enzyme DCP1A for the transcriptional control of bivalent developmental genes (Cell Death Dis). On the other hand, we have identified dozens of transcription factors altering it sumoylation state in response to OGD and demosntrate that altered sumoylation of some of them has an impact in cell viability (Cell Death Discov). Different collaborations have led to other publications in NAR, PNAS, ARS, Oncogene, Nat Commun, Stem Cell Reports, Sci Adv and Neuron, among others. We currently maintain international collaborations with Drs. Debra Wolgemuth (Columbia University), Frauke Melchior (University of Heidelberg), Alfred Vertegaal (Leiden University), Valentina Massa (University of Milan), and Cristina Cardoso (Darmstadt University).

I have published 48 papers in indexed journals (39 in Q1), with a total of 2063 citations (119/year in the last 5 years), I have 5 sexenios (last 2023) and 6 quinquenios (last 2024), an h-index of 26, I have directed 7 Doctoral Theses (with 2 more in progress), I have tutored more than 35 students (TFM, TFG, Erasmus, thesis) and 10 Postdocs. I have been PI of 10 grants (7 from Spanish Goverment) and participated in 15 more. I am director of the Department of Cell Dynamics and Signalling at CABIMER since June 2022. I regularly participate as a reviewer of scientific papers and national and international projects and in editorial tasks. We have been part of the PTI (CSIC) Global Health (Covid-19), 2 COST actions and 1 national network of excellence. I have directed the Cell Culture Unit at CABIMER for 10 years and have been part of the CABIMER Biosafety Committee during that period. I have also signed a framework agreement between the CSIC and the Ruprecht-Karls University of Heidelberg. I have obtained the Bachelor's, PhD and Young Researcher awards from the Real Maestranza de Caballería/Royal Academy of Sciences of Seville. I have been responsible for dissemination at CABIMER from 2011 to 2023, and from 2025 to date, as an organizer and/or speaker at events such as Science Week, the Science Fair and the European Researchers' Night.

Education

Licenciado en Biología, Universidad de Sevilla 1993

Doctor en Biología, Universidad de Sevilla 1999