2020

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Guillermo Rodrigo

Guillermo Rodrigo

https://biosysdesign.csic.es

ResearchID

ORCID

guillermo.rodrigo@csic.es

Affiliation: I2SYSBIO, CSIC - UV

Fields or areas of research Systems biology , Synthetic biology

I studied Industrial Engineering at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) in Spain (2001-2006). With an Erasmus scholarship, I completed my last year of studies at the École Polytechnique de France (2005-2006). My final B.Eng. project earned the Bancaja and Applus+ awards. In addition, I participated in the first iGEM team in Spain (2006) for the synthetic biology competition organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), this being my first contact with molecular biology at the theoretical and experimental levels.

Then, I decided to start a research career with the aim of bringing to biology engineering concepts. I obtained the Excellence fellowship from the UPV, allocated for the top 3 of each Degree, to complete the M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics (2007-2008). I then received the FPI fellowship (Regional Government of Valencia) to complete a Ph.D. in Biotechnology (2007-2011), with the title "Computational design and designability of gene regulatory networks", in the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). I also received the FPU fellowship (Ministry of Education), which was declined by incompatibility with the FPI. During my Ph.D., I focused on the computational/automated design and mathematical modeling of genetic networks at different levels. In addition, I participated in the European supercomputing program (HPC-Europa, 2007-2008) and in the MIT-France program (2007). I also obtained the EMBO short-term fellowship to go to MIT (2008), to study metabolic engineering. My trajectory during the doctorate directed definitively my investigation to the area of biosystems design, systems and synthetic biology, and biotechnology. Together, I received the Extraordinary Doctorate Award from the UPV.

Subsequently, and after overcoming a difficult vital scenario, I continued my post-doctoral research career at the French Research Council (CNRS) in Paris and surroundings. First, I obtained the EMBO long-term fellowship (2012-2013), after a sharp selection process. Then, I became fellow of the AXA Research Fund (2014), after passing another hard filter process (only one position for the University of Évry, which hosted the institute in which I worked), with a grant that covered my salary and also provided funds to perform independent experimental research in the lab. In this period, I studied and engineered small RNAs to control gene expression, and I also learned different single-cell microscopy techniques.

In mid 2014, I left the AXA fellowship to join the CSIC as a Tenured Scientist after winning a very competitive public examination (only one position for the whole country in the field of Biotechnology). Currently, I lead a dynamic and independent team, doing computational and experimental work, in the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (Valencia, Spain) by exploiting my interdisciplinary background. At this moment, we mainly receive funding from the Regional Government of Valencia, the Spanish Ministry of Science, the European Commission through its H2020 program, and some private entities.

People associated with the project as predoctoral research staff: 2