Short biography
After obtaining a PhD for research on fruitfly DNA binding proteins (CID-CSIC, Barcelona), I started to study malaria parasites. I worked for four years as head of the Molecular Parasitology lab at the Papua New Guinea IMR, where my research mainly focused on basic malaria parasite biology, but also on epidemiological aspects of the disease. Back to Europe, I joined the MRC-NIMR (London) as a postdoc for two years and a half to study gene expression and invasion of erythrocytes by malaria parasites. In 2006, I moved to IRB Barcelona with an ICREA junior contract. In 2011, I joined CRESIB-ISGlobal as an Assistant Research Professor, and in 2012 I was appointed ICREA Research Professor. The research of my team at ISGlobal focuses on the regulation of gene expression in malaria parasites, mainly on the mechanisms and functions of epigenetic variation and on the transcriptional regulation of specific processes such as sexual conversion and the heat-shock response.
