I studied Biology at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and performed my Master’s thesis there, which was focused on the effects of heavy metals on cyanobacterial populations from microbial mats and laboratory cultures, using mainly microscopic techniques. Once fallen in love with cyanobacteria, I moved to Seville to do my PhD Thesis, in the Instituto de Bioquímica Vegetal y Fotosíntesis (IBVF-CSIC), where I gained experience and skills with molecular biology and biochemistry techniques. During my thesis, I worked with the model filamentous-heterocyst forming cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. Cyanobacteria are the unique oxygenic photosynthetic prokaryotes and have become relevant both for their ecological role and their role in the evolution of the biosphere. Some cyanobacteria can also fix atmospheric nitrogen (a process known as diazotrophy) and these diverse growth strategies make them key players in the carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycle of the biosphere. Cyanophycin is a dynamic nitrogen-rich reservoir polymer found in most cyanobacteria, made of aspartate and arginine, being the arginine the most nitrogen-rich amino acid. My research topic during my thesis, and the following two years, was to describe how cyanophycin is metabolized and then, how these nitrogen atoms are made available during the subsequent arginine catabolism pathways for the growth of the filamentous heterocyst-forming cyanobacterium Anabaena sp.
Since March 2018, I joined at the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM), Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography, with a Juan de la Cierva - Formación program. My research interest here is to explore the metabolic pathways present in marine cyanobacteria in order to investigate the nitrogen mobilization in the ocean through these microorganisms.
