I am a biologist specialized in invertebrate zoology, functional morphology, taxonomy, evolution and phylogenetics. My research is primarily focused in the study of meiofauna, specifically kinorhynchs a.k.a “mud dragons”, a small phylum of microscopic invertebrates that inhabits marine sediments from intertidal to abyssal depths, and are nested within the molting animals or Ecdysozoa. Mud dragons have been known for more than a century, but only a handful of researchers have studied these animals through time, therefore, there are big gaps of knowledge that need to be filled out.
My research combines traditional morphological techniques (TEM, SEM, LM) with new technology including modern high-resolution microscopy (CLSM, FIB-SEM) combined with 3D rendering (IMARIS, AMIRA), DNA barcoding, RNAseq (NGS) and phylogenomics.
Former Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Copenhagen where I worked on the evolution of segmentation in kinorhynchs together with Martin V. Sørensen and Katrine Worsaae.
I am currently leading my own research with a project funded by the Velux Foundation at the Department of biology, Marine biology section, University of Copenhagen (Denmark). Here, I am digging into the molecular machinery of kinorhynch segmentation utilizing state-of-the-art molecular and morphological techniques.
Employment
Current position: Villum experiment researcher (Villum Fonden). Biological Institute, Marine Biology section. University of Copenhagen. Project: Tiny dragons (Kinorhyncha) answering big questions - insights into metazoan segmentation.
2019-2021: Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellow (Horizon 2020 – European Commission), Natural History Museum of Denmark and Biological Institute. University of Copenhagen. Project: KinoRoot, Digging out kinorhynch roots.
2014-2019. Postdoctoral Fellow University of British Columbia, Canada. (PI: Brian Leander). Project: Diversity, evolution and functional morphology of marine meiofauna (kinorhynchs).
Education
2010 - 2014: Ph.D. Cum laude awarded at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. Title: Contribution to the knowledge of cyclorhagid mud dragons (Kinorhyncha, Cyclorhagida): biogeography, taxonomy, morphology.
2009: Diploma of advanced studies (DEA) awarded at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. Title: Morphological characterization of the cyclorhagid kinorhynchs from the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
2008: Graduation of "Basic teaching course" from the Institute of Science and Education, Spain.
2002 - 2007: BSc in Biology (Zoology) from Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.