Summary
I am a molecular microbiologist and earned my Ph.D. in 2006 working for the Spanish Research Council (CIB-CSIC) on environmental bacteria for the removal of pollutants. After that I moved into systems and synthetic biology of bacteria in postdoctoral stays at the National Center for Biotechnology (CSIC; Spain), the Center for Systems Biology at Harvard University (USA) and the Synthetic Biology Center at MIT (USA).
I was appointed as a Lecturer in Synthetic Biology in the University of Surrey in 2014 and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2018. I joined the Dpt. of Life Sciences of Imperial College London in 2020 where I was promoted to Reader in 2023. My research is currently sponsored by BBSRC, NERC, the Royal Society, the Leverhulme Foundation and the programme Horizon2020 of the European Union.
My research focuses on a number of topics at the interphase between synthetic biology and evolution. We are interested in understanding how evolution shapes the properties of proteins exhibiting quantum mechanisms in vivo, in the tradeoffs governing gene expression and in the dynamics of complex microbial communities. The applications of this research range from the development of novel methods to fight antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens to the use of engineered microorganisms for the upcycling of plastic waste into molecules of added value.
For more information please visit my lab webpage.
Publications
Journals
Merali N, Chouari T, Terroire J, et al., 2023, Bile microbiome signatures associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma compared to benign disease: a UK pilot study, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol:24, ISSN:1422-0067
Avendano R, Munoz-Montero S, Rojas-Gatjens D, et al., 2023, Production of selenium nanoparticles occurs throughan interconnected pathway of sulphur metabolism andoxidative stress response in Pseudomonas putida KT2440, Microbial Biotechnology, Vol:16, ISSN:1751-7907, Pages:931-946
Dvorak P, Galvao TC, Pflueger-Grau K, et al., 2023, Water potential governs the effector specificity of the transcriptional regulator XylR of Pseudomonas putida, Environmental Microbiology, Vol:25, ISSN:1462-2912, Pages:1041-1054
Conference
Fokialakis N, De la Calle F, Walshe K, et al., 2022, Sustainable Exploitation of Bio-Engineered Microorganisms for the Discovery and Development of Novel Biosurfactants and Siderophores with Industrial Applications, GEORG THIEME VERLAG KG, Pages:1466-1467, ISSN:0032-0943