Graduate (1988) and PhD Thesis (1992) in Biological Sciencies by the University of Granada (Spain). Predoctoral research developed at Zaidín Experimental Station (EEZ-CSIC) focus on bacterial nitrate metabolism under the Rhizobium-legume interactions; with a stay at University of Karlsruhe (F.R. Germany) with Prof. Walter G. Zumft. Post-doctoral fellow from CSIC, European Union, EMBO and University of Ghent, and also hired by the Vlaams Institute voor Biotechnologie during the period 1994-98 in the Genetics Laboratory of the University of Ghent (Belgium), directed by Dr. Marc Van Montagu, under the supervision of Dr. Marcelle Holsters. The research focused on molecular communication between plants and microorganisms, and the development patterns of root nodules. Reincorporated to the EEZ-CSIC (1998-2007), through competitive contracts from the European Union, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the Junta de Andalucía. From 2007 to date, as Tenured Scientist of CSIC.

My research career has focused on obtaining basic and applied knowledge about beneficial interactions between plants and microorganisms of interest in agricultural and forestry systems, that it is to say the Microbiology of Agroforestry Ecosystems. Therefore, the study of woody plants microbiome, both external to the root and endophytic, constitutes the core on which the research I do is based. In order to achieve this objective, the lines of research focus on the ecology of root microorganisms through “-omics” analyses of the root microbial communities and their role in the maintenance of natural (oaks, pines, …) or agricultural (olive orchards) ecosystems, as well as the role they play on the interaction of their host plants.