After graduating in Biological Sciences at the University of Alicante (2002, 8.72), I was granted a predoctoral fellowship (FPU program, MECD) for my Ph.D. studies at the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) (2008, cum laude). These studies focused on the description of the antiviral activity in fish of defensins, a family of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The obtained results were published in 2 book chapters, 2 review articles, and 5 scientific articles, one of which reports the antiviral activity of fish defensins for the first time, being also pioneering in their discovery.
I then moved to the industrial sector (an SME called "CGB-Edson") for 1.5 years and from this work, 2 research articles and 1 book chapter were published on the development of targeted immunoliposomes loaded with AMPs (melittin) for antitumor and antiviral applications. Later, I was appointed to a postdoctoral position (UMH) within a large national consortium supported by an Ingenio Consolider project ("Aquagenomics") on the implementation of biotechnological tools for aquaculture. Based on my work, 8 articles were published, as well as 1 book chapter that was selected by the publisher to be reedited as an independent book.
In 2009, I started a 4-year international stage funded by the European Commission. First, I held a 2-year postdoctoral position at Keele University (UK) within a Marie Curie - International Training Network (MC-ITN) project. Subsequently, I was awarded a Marie Curie Intra- European Fellowship (MC-IEF) to work at Wageningen University (Holland) for another 2 years. During these periods, I studied the immunomodulation and acute phase responses mediated by chitosan when orally administered in supplemented fish feeds (ITN), and the interferon response (IEF), using carp as biological model in both cases. This experience allowed me to build a large network of international collaborators (7 articles) and to strengthen my national network (1 article). It is remarkable my role as speaker, organizer and chairman of a large workshop at the 15th Conference of the European Association of Fish Pathologists (EAFP). This also facilitated a contract with Hipra Ltd. to co-lead a research project for 2 years at the UMH. Based on the results of this industrial collaboration, a new product to improve fish health was commercialized (rights retained by the company) and a paper was published.
From 2016, I led a small research group at UMH. During this phase, I was awarded a 3-year JIN national project as PI (RTI2018-101969-J-I00, MICIU, Retos, 2019-2022), and then I was a key participant in the application of a funded 2-year national project (Metdisfish, MAPA & EMFAF, 2022-2023), coordinated between UMH and IIM-CSIC. Recently, Dec 2023, I was appointed to a permanent position as Tenured Scientist at the Institute of Aquaculture “Torre de la Sal” (IATS-CSIC) to build a research group, being the main objective of my research lines tackling (mostly viral) infectious diseases by sustainable approaches in order to alleviate the negative impact from current procedures in intensive animal production on both wild ecosystems and human and animal health (i.e., the release of large amounts of pathogens from farm outbreaks, the continuously-growing antibiotic pollution and the consequent selection of multi-drug resistance microorganisms). Within this framework, my research interests encompass the i) the identification of innate immune molecules, metabolites and extracts from aquatic organisms with antimicrobial and/or immunomodulatory properties, ii) the assessment of the most efficient ways of administration, with special interest in oral treatments such as feed supplements (or functional diets) for mass supply, and iii) the development of biocompatible and biodegradable polymer nanomaterials to protect (if necessary) the loaded drugs from degradation in the supply formulations.
In summary, I have participated in 4 local/regional/institutional (3 as PI), 10 national (2 as PI) and 2 international competitive projects with different roles. My publication record (all peer-reviewed) includes 56 publications indexed by JCR (cumulative IF of 237), of which 42 (75%) are Q1-positioned (the rest in Q2), I am key author (1st, last or corresponding) in 27 (48%), and 20 (36%) include international collaborators. In addition, 1 of my publications was awarded with the VIII national prize "Jacumar". In total, my work has been cited 3,406 times and my h-index reaches a value of 25 (Scopus, Jul. 2025). I have also published 4 book chapters, 1 book and 2 divulgative articles (5 of them as 1st author). In addition, I have contributed 83 communications to a total of 19 national and 26 international congresses. Regarding teaching, I have co-supervised 3 Ph.D. theses (all cum laude, 1 with honors) and all students have continued their scientific careers in either the public or the private sector. I have also supervised 10 master's (average grade above 9/10) and 13 undergraduate theses (9/10). I have also participated in the teaching program (undergraduate and master's) at UMH, including the university courses "Introduction to Nanobiotechnology", which I created and coordinate, and "Advances in Virology Research". Finally, it is worth mentioning that I am a regular reviewer of several Q1 journals, guest editor of several special issues, evaluator of the "Agencia Estatal de Investigación" (AEI) since 2019, among other State Agencies, and recently co-organized the XI Congress of Young Researchers in Polymers (JIP2023).
