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I was born and raised in Zaragoza, Spain. My mother was born and grew up in Venezuela. I always loved going fishing on the Mediterranean with my father and sisters.
I decided to be a Marine Biologist when I was 15. I moved to Alicante before turning 18 for my undergraduate studies. I began to dive and decided I wanted to go abroad to continue my education. I took a year of undergraduate studies at the University of Plymouth, where I started to gain some lab research experience working for a summer on fish nutrition and histology. I graduated with a BSc in Biology from the University of Alicante in 2002.
I next obtained a Leonardo da Vinci European grant to spend 5 months working in a fish farm in La Seyne sur mer, France. My goal was to learn French and decide whether I wanted to go to graduate school or not. I worked in a sea bream and sea bass farm as well as with new species of Mediterranean aquaculture. At this point I started to do my own necropsies on sick fish from the farm and came to the realization I wanted to do research. I would take the fish to my own accommodation, which was a very old castle with bunk beds and a lab from the 1960's. I cleaned the lab, found old dissecting scopes, starting drawing on a notebook the anatomy of the fishes I dissected.
In the summer of 2002 I was awarded a British Council scholarship to do a Master of Research degree in the UK. I went back to the University of Plymouth to study Applied Fish Biology. My research project was conducted at the FRS Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen under Dr Anthony E. Ellis supervision. He and Dr Jack Harris (from Plymouth University) made me fall in love with the field of Fish Immunology. I have very fond memories of my stay in Aberdeen and my project on Mx inducers on Atlantic salmon fry and parr. I graduated with my MRes in October 2003 and started my PhD the next month back in Spain.
Photography by Kenneth Ingham
My PhD work was carried out in the Cell Biology Department of the University of Murcia, Spain. I studied for 4 years the interaction of probiotic bacteria and teleost fish immune system. This is when I started to work with mucosal immune systems since probiotic bacteria were orally delivered to the fish. I became really interested in the gut associated lymphoid tissue and its interactions with the microbiota, a complex question when working with non-model organisms before the Omics era. I graduated at the end of 2007.
All my efforts paid off when I started my first postdoctoral position in January 2008 at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, USA. I joined Dr Sunyer's lab on the quest for the function of IgT, a novel immunoglobulin discovered back in 2005. This was a very exciting part of my career, I learnt how to be very thorough conceptually and also methodologically. Moreover I was part of the exciting discovery of IgT function, a specialized mucosal immunoglobulin in fish that coats gut microbiota.
In June 2009 I started a second postdoctoral position in Wellington, New Zealand, at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research. I continued to study mucosal immunity, this time the skin mucosal immune responses of New Zealand groper against ciliated protozoan parasites. I also taught at the University of Victoria in Wellington and I supervised my first master's thesis on the ontogeny of groper immune system.
Dr. Tony Ellis passed away after battling cancer late in 2010, when I was in New Zealand. I used to call him on the phone frequently when I was in Philadelphia and Wellington. This was great loss to all of us in the field. My thoughts are often with him and his family, and I will be forever grateful for his kindness, generosity and mentorship. Also for his love of nature, the universe, stars and gardens.
From April 2011 to August 2011 I was visiting scientist at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand. This was a great experience and opportunity for me to interact with clinical and mammalian immunologists as well as learning how a private research institute functions. I actively collaborate with Dr Graham LeGros and his research regarding Th2 responses against the gut parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis.
I began my new adventure as an Assistant Professor (tenure track) at the Biology Department, University of Mexico in Fall 2011. Starting my new lab, teach undergraduates and graduate students and be part of the amazing diverse culture here in New Mexico has been incredibly rewarding. I am part of CETI in Biology, the Center for Theoretical and Evolutionary Immunology. This is a great place to study the evolution of immune systems, where folks work from invertebrates to mammals. I also became fascinated with the mucosal immune system of the African lungfish. Lungfishes are incredible creatures from an evolutionary perspective and the estivation process continues to offer exciting and groundbreaking research questions. I also continue to work on trout mucosal immunity and mucosal vaccines.
One of the best parts of doing research is the chance to work with people from everywhere and learn something new every day. I strive to be a better mentor every day and to fight against inequalities and for inclusiveness. My goal is to create a welcoming environment for all lab members and all others around us. I also love contributing to the local Albuquerque and New Mexico communities.
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