I have always been passionate about understanding evolution, starting from how life started on Earth, how first eukaryotes arose, and how bacteria became organelles. I studied this during my predoctoral and postdoctoral research between 2001 and 2008 at the University of Montreal, Québec (Canada) and at Newcastle University (UK), where I also focused on the data gathering and methodological aspects. It was the begining of the new field PHYLOGENOMICS.

When I came back to the Basque Country in 2008, I was fortunate to start working as bioinformatician at CIC bioGUNE, analyzing the first Illumina data generated in Spain; we were analyzing 36 bp reads from the Genome Analyzer. I was also introduced to the world of genotyping and microarrays, working mostly on model organisms such as humans, mouse and fruit fly. I was early introduced to High Throughput Sequencing and Genotyping, back then named NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING AND GENOTYPING.

In 2011, I joined AZTI to launch the marine genetics research line, where I was able to apply the knowledge acquired working on deep eukaryotic evolution and on high-throughput sequencing data analyses for making a better use of the marine environment and its resources. This was the begining of the ECO-EVOLUTIONARY GENOMICS APPLIED TO MARINE MANAGEMENT research line.