Since 2010 ICREA Research Professor at the Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona (IBMB). (2002) Group Leader at the Center for Genomic Regulation. (1991) Post-doc at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (New York), working on mechanisms of pre-mRNA splicing in yeast. (1990) PhD in Biochemistry by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), with research on the regulation of gene expression by the plant hormone absicic acid in maize, supervised by Dr. Montserrat Pagès at the Center for Research and Development (CID), Barcelona. (1988) BA in Sciences (Biochemistry), UAB. IBMB Vice-director (Nov 2018 - June 2022). Visiting Scientist with Chris B. Burge (MIT, May 2022 - Nov 2023). Leave of Absence from ICREA (Nov 2023 - July 2025). Scientific director of the IBMB Genomics Platform (2026).

Most eukaryotic genes are interrupted by variable sequences that must be precisely removed through RNA splicing. Because splicing errors can be lethal, this process demands extraordinary accuracy. This is the task of the spliceosome, the cell’s most complex molecular machine. Why would evolution favor such a complicated and risky strategy? Probably because controlled splicing allows a single gene to produce multiple RNA isoforms, dramatically expanding the coding capacity of the genome. Splicing is directed by a “splicing code,” made by RNA sequences and RNA-binding proteins. Our goal is to understand which intrinsic properties of the spliceosome are targetted by this code. To this end, we follow a reductionist approach using yeast as a model system, combining molecular and computational methods. In parallel, we analyze human high-throughput data (such as GTEx) to develop and test our models of regulation of splicing.