Biografía

My research interests involve the use of genomic and transcriptomic tools to unveil the molecular mechanisms underlying sex determination and regulation of gonad development in fish to understand the huge plasticity and diversity displayed by this group of animals. I also use the genome-wide signals generated by these cutting-edge technologies for ecological and evolutionary studies at different functional levels: ecosystem, communities and individuals. My PhD addressed the identification and isolation of sex-specific DNA markers in marine fish of interest in aquaculture, in order to unveil the genetics behind commercially desirable traits. I then spent a two-year postdoctoral period in Singapore where I studied the genetic regulation of the scale pattern in cyprinids, and later moved to Saudi Arabia for three years to study the genetic mechanism underlying sex change in clownfish through transcriptomics. Four years ago, I joined the Fisheries Ecology group at the IIM where I have been mainly working on applying new genomic tools to improve fisheries and fish stocks assessments. I use these tools to estimate abundance and other demographic parameters of exploited fish populations, to infer connectivity and stock structure or to explore biodiversity and abundance of fish from seawater (eDNA). These tools have also served me to explore the genomic architecture of an incipient speciation event between two sympatric fish color morphs or to infer the mechanism driving the seasonal aggregation of elasmobranchs at a coastal site.

Proxectos relacionados