Graduated in Biology at the Universidad Complutense in 1991, I obtained my PhD in the laboratory of Antonio García-Bellido at the CBM-Severo Ochoa in 1995. In 1997, I moved to the EMBL-Heidelberg where I got a position as Staff Scientist. Since 2003, I am ICREA Research Professor at the IRB Barcelona leading the Development and Growth Control Laboratory. I am also the Head of the Cell and Developmental Biology (2007-2018) and Mechanisms of Disease (2018-present) Programmes. I was Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore (2010) and Lecturer at the University of Barcelona (2020-24). I am member of the Disease, Models and Mechanisms editorial board (2016-) and board member (2021-) and vicepresident (2024-) of the European Drosophila Society. I was elected EMBO Young Investigator (2007) and EMBO member (2023). I have directed 13 PhD theses, 17 Master theses, and published, as first or lead author, more than 75 papers.

In all animals analyzed so far, aneuploidy has dramatic consequences at the cellular and organismal level. Aneuploidy, either in mosaics or systemic, is the major cause of miscarriages in humans and is associated with many pathological conditions including growth retardation, developmental disorders, aging and cancer. Whether the detrimental effects of aneuploidy are a consequence of changes in the expression of specific dosage-sensitive genes or, additionally, a result in the gene expression imbalance of all genes present in the affected chromosome remains to be fully elucidated. Aneuploid cells have also been shown in recent years to be highly prevalent in early human embryos. A mechanistic understanding of the identification

and elimination of these aneuploid cells remains poorly understood. We are currently generating Drosophila models of aneuploidy, in mosaics and systemic, to address all these important questions.