Born in Madrid in 1964. Studied Biological Sciences at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, 1987), where he also obtained his PhD (1991; Molecular Biology and Biochemistry), in the field of plant molecular virology. Postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Elliot Meyerowitz, at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), studying Arabidopsis flower development. Joined a start-up company in the field of plant functional genomics (Mendel Biotechnology, Hayward, CA), in 1998, studying Arabidopsis transcription factors. In 2002, joined Caltech as Director of the Millard and Muriel Jacobs Genetics and Genomics Laboratory, continuing studies on genome-wide analyses of gene expression, gene expression in Arabidopsis flower development, microRNAs, and microarray technology. Since 2007, ICREA Research Professor at the Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), Barcelona. Director of CRAG since 2013.

Research interests

Developmental processes in multicellular organisms are dependent on the cellular capacity for differential gene expression. That capacity (i.e., the developmental program of an organism) is hardwired and encoded in the genome, in the form of cis-regulatory sequences that determine when, where, and how genes are expressed, of transcription factors and transcriptional co-regulators that act on those sequences, and of other types of regulatory proteins or RNAs. My research interest has focused on transcriptional regulation and development, using the plant Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system. This has included studies on the floral transition and flower development, genomic analyses of transcription factors, and global gene expression analyses, as well as an interest in genomic technologies. The current focus of the laboratory is the study at a global level of gene regulatory networks that control development in Arabidopsis.