Organization chart
Curriculum summary
Holding a degree in biology (2006) and a master’s in biotechnology and molecular biology (2008) from the University of Murcia, María José wrote her PhD thesis on the search for biochemical strategies to induce virus resistance in fruit trees (2011) in the Department of Plant Improvement at the Centre for Edaphology and Applied Biology of the Segura, a Spanish National Research Council centre (CEBAS-CSIC). She was awarded funding from the European AgreenSkills programme in 2012 to undertake an innovative project within the Vine Ecophysiology and Functional Genomics Research Group (EGFV) at the INRA in Bordeaux, France. The project focused on studying the first cell communication channels (plasmodesma) that form between different grafted plant tissues, and how these initial connections effect the ultimate viability of grafts between different vine varieties.
María José joined the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) in 2015 as a post-doctoral researcher with a Juan de la Cierva grant, as part of the Ecophysiology of Plants Under Mediterranean Conditions Research Group. She focused on studying the compensatory relationship between photosynthetic capacity and stress tolerance in plants, particularly at biochemical level.
She began working in the private sector in 2018 at the biotech company Abiopep S.L. on a Torres-Quevedo contract, developing several biotechnology projects focused on improving stress tolerance in economically important crops in south-eastern Spain.
She rejoined the UIB in 2022 on a Ramón y Cajal contract, moving to INAGEA in 2023 as a researcher. At present, her main focus is to look further into stress tolerance levels, with a view to generating new strategies that enable higher stress tolerance in crops without negatively impacting productivity.
María José currently has 42 articles to her name (35 SCI, 71%-Q1, 56%-D1), has undertaken several international research stays–taking part in three polar sampling campaigns–and is the PI for a national project (PID2022-138424NB-I00). She also teaches on the undergraduate and master’s programmes at the Faculty of Biology and Higher Polytechnic School, and has supervised several final degree projects and master’s theses.