Principal investigators (alphabetical order)
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Mohamed (Moha) Abdelaziz
Senior Lecturer Department of Genetics Faculty of Sciences University of Granada 18071, Granada, Spain. @mabdelaziz_moha [email protected] Moha´s Google Scholar |
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Ana García Muñoz
Postdoctoral Researcher Department of Plant Biology & Ecology University of Seville (Spain) Av. Reina Mercedes s/n, 41012, Sevilla, Spain @GarciaMunoz_Ana [email protected] Ana´s Google Scholar |
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Miguel Martín Hernández
Senior Lecturer Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Faculty of Sciences University of Granada 18071, Granada, Spain. [email protected] |
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Luis Matías
Senior Lecturer Department of Plant Biology & Ecology University of Seville (Spain) Av. Reina Mercedes s/n, 41012, Sevilla, Spain @L_Matias_ [email protected] Matías´Google Scholar |
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Eugenia E. (Eli) Montiel
Senior Researcher Department of Genetics Faculty of Sciences University of Granada 18071, Granada, Spain. @eemontiel [email protected] Eli´s Google Scholar |
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A. Jesús Muñoz-Pajares
Senior Lecturer Department of Genetics Faculty of Sciences University of Granada 18071, Granada, Spain. @MunozPajaresAJ [email protected] Jesús´ Google Scholar |
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Sebastián Ramos-Onsins
CSIC Scientist Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics Campus UAB CRAG Building 08193, Cerdanyola Barcelona, Spain. @SebasRamosO [email protected] Sebas´Google Scholar |
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Javier Valverde
Assistant Professor Department of Plant Biology & Ecology University of Seville (Spain) Av. Reina Mercedes s/n, 41012, Sevilla, Spain [email protected] Javi´s Google Scholar |
Postdocs
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Antonio´s research focuses on understanding the ecological mechanisms that drive interactions among woody plant species. These mechanisms involve a wide range of organisms, from antagonists such as fungal pathogens to mutualists like seed-dispersing birds. The outcomes of these plant–organism interactions leave spatial footprints that shape the assembly of plant communities, a process that requires innovative tools such as point pattern analysis. Moreover, the inherent complexity and interconnectedness of natural ecological systems call for integrative approaches, on which I am currently working. For instance, it is possible to identify keystone species within multi-layered ecological networks that combine plant facilitation and plant–pollinator interactions. Antonio is based in Sevilla.
Antonio´s Google Scholar ORCID |
PhD students
Modesto Berbel Cascales
[email protected] |
Modesto developed his thesis in the framework of globalHybrids project. He explored different aspect of hybrid populations using a bunch of techniques and tools. In this sense, he used big data to explore the potential of hybridization of plant species in every Spanish National Park. He used different areas of contact between Erysimum species where hybrid zones arise to study how adaptive trajectories of parental species are modified when hybrids are generated. Different quatitative tools and genomic resources are put together to understand better the mechanisms underlying the rise of these hybrids and consequences of the hybridization on general diversity of plant communities. Modesto is based in Granada.
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Ismael obtained the BSc in Biology at University of Sevilla in 2022. His BSc thesis was entitled "Spatio-temporal colonization and expansion pattern of Retama monosperma in coastal dunes at the Juan Carlos I dike in Huelva". He is starting his PhD thesis focused in study the response of Quercus mixed forests (mainly Quercus suber and Q. canariensis) to different drivers of global change, such as drought, exotic pathogens or atmospheric dust deposition, and their effect on the increase of mortality in natural populations. He combines experimental and observational approaches, as well as multi-scale and multi-dimensional tools to reach the mean objectives of his work. This thesis aim to answer basic questions in ecology, but also comprehensive conclusion to help with management and conservation of this ecosystems. Ismael in based in Sevilla.
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Melissa Moniz
[email protected] |
Melissa started in our lab as an Erasmus + training fellow coming from Portugal. She is now working in her PhD exploring patterns of biodiversity at different levels. She uses biogeography and phylogeny approaches to explore diversification patterns of plants in different areas of interest and the consequences of this patterns on plant local adaptation. Moreover, she is using the same areas of interest to monitor the loss of genetic diversity in the last decades using a mixed approach including samples from collections and natural populations in the present time. Melissa is based in Granada.
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Carlos Olmedo Castellanos
[email protected] |
Although theories point that transitions in plants associated with mating systems occur from outcrossing species to species that reproduce by self-fertilization, transition from Erysimum incanum to Erysimum wilczekianum could be the first example of a reverse transition. Carlos develops his thesis studying the genetic causes that made possible these kind of unfrequent evolutionary transitions possible; the ecological mechanisms that favored its promotion and the consequences it had at genome level. He is also interested in Philosophy of Science, analyzing the philosophical overview of this ground-breaking topic. Moreover, he currently develops BioCosas, a student-made office for Scientific Communication activities from Casa de Porras, part of the Centre of Contemporary Culture of the University of Granada. Carlos is based in Granada.
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Diego Alonso Vargas Donayre
[email protected] |
Diego has just started his thesis with the title “Análisis transcriptómico de la lactación y cartografiado fino de polimorfismos con efectos causales sobre fenotipos lecheros y de viabilidad en la raza Murciano-Granadina”. This thesis is part of a collaboration between three PI from CRAG (Marcel Amills, Alex Clop and Sebastian Ramos-Onsins). Diego will integrate selection fingerprint data in pigs and goats with multitissue transcriptomic data in order to identify genes under selection and that present tissue-specific expression patterns, so that it is possible to identify which anatomical organs have been affected by the selective process associated with domestication. Diego is based in Barcelona.
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Ángela is based in the University of Seville. She obtained her BSc. in Forest engineering at Universidad de Extremadura at Plasencia and BSc in Environmental Sciences and MSc. in Conservation Biology at University of Granada. She has been one of the most experienced technicians to work with us. Recently, she has begun her doctoral thesis, in which she aims to explore how dendrochronology can serve as a powerful tool to predict ecophysiological changes in forests driven by climate change. Ángela is specialist in dendroecology and there is no merit in make her laugh.
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Visiting students
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Yann´s main research interest is to understand the genetic diversity, population structure, and phylogeography of Tithonia diversifolia in its native distribution. She uses genomic tools, such as SNP analysis, to study how geographic and environmental factors influence the genetic variability of its populations. She also conducts phylogenetic analyses and search for candidate genes related to local adaptation. Her work aims to contribute to the understanding of evolutionary processes and the conservation of biodiversity in this species. Yann is based in México!
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Master students
Cristina Montoya de Haro
[email protected] |
Cristina just finished her degree in Biology and she is starting her Master in Genetics and Evolution at University of Granada. For her master’s thesis, and continuing with her undergraduate thesis, Cristina focuses on studying patterns of genomic diversification among species and identifying highly informative genomic regions relevant to species conservation. Cristina is based in Granada.
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Patricia Roca Villanueva
[email protected] |
Patricia is starting her Master in Genetics and Evolution at University of Granada. She will develop her master’s thesis on population genetics and genomics of Arabidopsis thaliana and Brachypodium species, with special focus on local adaptation patterns and the machanisms promoting them. The master´s thesis is supervised by Xavier Picó from the Doñana Biological Station in Seville. Patricia is based in Granada.
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Undergraduate students
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Cristobal is working on the implementation of Deep Learning and Neural Networks tools in the identification of landmarks on flower pictures. This will allow us to reduce significantly the effort of using Geometric Morphometrics to study floral shape variation. The authomatization and implementation of this new methods would also allow to explore different kind of questions on bigger samples and different species. The final aim is to generate a mobile app which allows the researchers to do their word on GM in situ in the natural populations. Cristobal is baed in Granada.
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Lucia started recently as a member of the group and she is helping with an ongoing experiment to evaluate the genetic factors (ploidy and genetic diversity) influencing the germination capacity of seeds. This germination capacity in the field will have a significant effect on the probability of the seeds for form part of the plants in the populations, or swell the seed bank of the species in plant community. Lucia is based in Granada.
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Esther joined the group in her first undergrad year and since then has been so active that she already leads a project. She is focused on exploring the effects of mating system variability, type of reproduction frequency and pliody on the variation of male and female reproductive inveestment along plant lifespan. Different populations and ploidies in Erysimum incanum species complex are her study system for this project. Moreover, Esther is also herlping with other projects and learning as much as she can on genomics, programming, and experimental set up. Esther is based in Granada.
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Teresa is finishing her degree in Biology. For her degree thesis, she is focusedon the genomics of two Coffee hybrids species showing high resistance to biotic strees, particularly to rust produced by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix. As a first step to understand the genetic basis of rust resistance, she is working on the annotation of these newly assembled genomes and comparing her results with other Coffee species available in GenBank. Teresa is based in Granada.
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Lea Palao Picotti
[email protected] |
Lea is finishing her degree in Biology. For her degree thesis, she is studying the impact of using non-specific genomic references on the calculation of population genetic diversity. Additionally, she is focusing on exploring different methods to correct errors in this calculation and ensure greater accuracy. The results of this study could facilitate the analysis of population genetics of non-model species. Lea is based in Granada.
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Paula Rodríguez Lozano
[email protected] |
Paula is a last year student in the Degree of Biology. The TNSALP protein is an enzyme known as tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase. When the gene that encodes it (ALPL) is mutated, it causes the enzyme to malfunction, leading to hypophosphatasia (HPP), a rare genetic disorder. Paula is at an early stage of the project, but her goal is to study three different mutations of this protein in order to assess their impact on the inflammasome pathway. To achieve this, she employing various techniques, including the construction of lentiviral particles to induce a response in cell cultures. Paula is developing her Degree thesis in collaboration with Cristina García Fontana and Beatriz García Fontana at Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria of Granada. Paula is based in Granada.
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Michaela recently joined the group. She will start with her own research project soon. Michaela is based in Granada.
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Alba Martínez Guerra
[email protected] |
Alba recently joined the group. She will start with her own research project soon. Alba is based in Granada.
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Joel Domínguez Rodríguez
[email protected] |
Joel recently joined the group. He will start with her own research project soon. Joel is based in Granada.
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Aixa Sissoko Cusio
[email protected] |
Aixa recently joined the group. She will start with her own research project soon. Aixa is based in Granada.
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Collaborators
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Camilo was one of the most active member of our lab while he was a grad and master student. He worked hardly on ploidy effects on variation, phenotypic plasticity and phenotypic integration using both empirical and in silico approaches. Currently he is a PhD student in Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid (Spain). His PhD thesis is mainly focused on assessing the effects of kin selection over the resource allocation on Moricandia moricandiodes and how does it affects to inclusive fitness. He is also interested on modelizing ecological interactions with pollinators and the study of estable evolutive strategies. His collaboration with members of the net is still more than active and always fun. Camilo is based in URJC in Mostoles (Madrid).
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Andrés Ferreira Rodríguez
[email protected] |
Andrés has been working in the group during his last years as undergraduate student. He focused on explore the effects of hybridization and mating system transition on phenotypic evolution, using geometric morphometric tools. He used as system study different species of Erysimum and their hybrids in nature, as well as close related Erysimum species with contrasting mating systems. His work has been presented in different congresses. Andrés successfully secured a position as a high school teacher and is currently based in Algeciras.
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Celia Vaca Benito
[email protected] |
Celia joined the group when she was a first year student and since then she has been involved in different projects and experiments. She obtained her BSc in Biology at University of Granada and last year she defended her Master thesis in Genetics and Evolution. For her master´s thesis she is focused on how below-ground interaction can have a significant effect on above-ground interaction. It is known that ecological interactions are one of the main evolutionary driver, since they mediate significant selective pressures. However, it is not so frequent that antagonistic interactions, as those generated by root consumers, could promote mutualistic interaction, stimulating pollination. She is using different populations of Erysimum repandum to explore how a root interaction with Curculionidae spp. is modiying floral size and reward and promoting the rise of pollinator interaction in a selfing species as E. repandum. If the causes of this change are surprising, the consequences are completely unexpected. Celia is also a great cartoonist and designer, drawing most of the cartoons and schemes you will find in our papers. Currently she is working at Instituto Mixto de Investigación en Biodiversidad (IMIB-CSIC) in Asturias.
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Andrea Aijón Acosta
[email protected] |
Andrea obtained her BSc in Biology at University of Granada last year, working for her degree thesis on the genomic bases of ulcerative colitis using her own biological material. This year she started in the Master of Genetics and Evolution and she continues with her work on the genetic basis of ulcerative colitis using genomic tools. Andrea is based in Granada.
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Former members
Adelaida Márquez García
2023-2024
Master student (2023-2024).
Master in Genética y Evolución (Universidad de Granada).
Enrique Caro Saavedra
2023-2024
Master student (2023-2024).
Master en Genética y Evolución (Universidad de Granada).
Mª Paz Solis Robles
2020-2023.
Undergraduate student and degree thesis student (2022-2023).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Andrea Martín Salas
2020-2023.
Undergraduate student and degree thesis student (2022-2023).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Mireia Bustos Aibar
2022-2023.
Technician and posgraduate student.
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Currently PhD student in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics at INYTA-CIBM.
PhD student at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II, University of Granada.
Andrés Ferreira Rodríguez
2020-2023.
Undergraduate student, degree thesis student (2021-2022).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Currently high school teacher and active collaborator of our group.
Alejandro García Gómez
2020-2023.
Undergraduate student, degree thesis student (2021-2022).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Currently PhD student at CREAF-UAB.
Enrica Olivieri
2015-2019.
Undergraduate student, degree thesis student (2018-2019).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Currently researcher at CIBM-UGR.
2023-2024
Master student (2023-2024).
Master in Genética y Evolución (Universidad de Granada).
Enrique Caro Saavedra
2023-2024
Master student (2023-2024).
Master en Genética y Evolución (Universidad de Granada).
Mª Paz Solis Robles
2020-2023.
Undergraduate student and degree thesis student (2022-2023).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Andrea Martín Salas
2020-2023.
Undergraduate student and degree thesis student (2022-2023).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Mireia Bustos Aibar
2022-2023.
Technician and posgraduate student.
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Currently PhD student in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics at INYTA-CIBM.
PhD student at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II, University of Granada.
Andrés Ferreira Rodríguez
2020-2023.
Undergraduate student, degree thesis student (2021-2022).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Currently high school teacher and active collaborator of our group.
Alejandro García Gómez
2020-2023.
Undergraduate student, degree thesis student (2021-2022).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Currently PhD student at CREAF-UAB.
Enrica Olivieri
2015-2019.
Undergraduate student, degree thesis student (2018-2019).
Degree in Biology (University of Granada).
Currently researcher at CIBM-UGR.