Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Senior Researcher and founding member of the Center for Astrobiology (INTA-CSIC) since its creation until 2012. He has been Deputy Director of the National Institute of Bioinformatics from 2004 to 2011. Expert in Biophysics, Systems Biology, Bioinformatics, Molecular Evolution and Origin of Lifetime.
Between 1998 and 2003 he was Coordinator of the Summer Courses in the Science Area of the Universidad Complutense in El Escorial. During the years 2000 to 2004 he was Deputy Director General of the General Foundation of the UCM and Director of the Winter Cycle of Science and Technology.
In 2012 he was Director General of University Policy and, from September 2012 until February 2015, Secretary General of Universities of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
Postdoctoral training at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Department of Chimie Physique II under the direction of Prof. Ilia Prigogine. Later in the United States postdoctoral stays at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (Prof. Michael Arbib and Christoph von der Malsburg) and at the University of California Irvine (Prof. Gary Linch). From 1996 to 2012 permanent research collaboration at Stanford University with the Prof. John Ross Group as Visiting Scholar and research associate in projects of the National Science Foundation (USA) and NATO Collaborative Research Grants.
Teaching in the UCM in the teaching of the discipline of Biophysics. Co-author of the book "Biophysics: Processes of Self-organization in Biology". Directed and organized different post-graduate and doctorate courses. Codirector of the UCM Master's Degree "Bioinformatics and Computational Biology", from 2003 to 2012. Directed and participated in several courses of the European School of Theoretical Biology in France.
Permanent research activity in the Biophysics Group, Department of Biochemistry, in the field of Theoretical and Systems Biology. Principal Investigator in successive competitive projects (National Plan, Consolider-Ingenio, European Framework Programs, Community of Madrid Projects) in dynamics of complex systems, metabolic networks, neural networks, molecular evolution, origin of life and molecular dynamics. In the Center of Astrobiology, Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Evolution in research on prebiotic evolution and cellular origin.
Scientific production with more than one hundred publications in JCR magazines. Editor of several books, including "Advances in Artifical Life" and "Origins of Life". Author of articles of dissemination and communication of science. Member of different national and international scientific societies. Founding member of the Society of Biophysics of Spain. Organized and chaired international congresses and scientific meetings.
LINES OF INVESTIGATION:
Biology of Systems. Metabolic Networks
Origin of life and molecular evolution
Dynamics of quasi-species and catalytic networks of replicators
Origin of the cell.