Genetic Control of Organ Development and Regeneration

Dr Miguel Torres graduated in Biology in the Universidad Complutense of Madrid in 1986 and obtained a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid in 1991. His doctoral thesis in the laboratory of Lucas Sánchez (CIB-CSIC, Madrid), concentrated on the genetic analysis of sex determination in Drosophila. During his postdoctoral stay in the laboratory of Peter Gruss in the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Göttingen, Alemania 1992-96), he performed insertional and targeted mutagenesis in the mouse model, contributing to the understanding of mammalian organ and early embryo patterning. In 1996 he incorporated as an independent scientist to the Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC, Madrid), where he started an internationally recognized group specialized in the study of transcriptional and signaling mechanisms in vertebrate organogenesis and tissue homeostasis. At the CNB Dr Torres directed the Immunology and Oncology Department from 2004 to 2006. In 2007 he joined CNIC, being the founding Director of the Cardiovascular Development Department (2007-2012), Director of the Cardiovascular Development and Repair Department (20012-2015) and CNIC Associate Director (2009-2012). Since July de 2015, Dr Torres is Coordinator del Fundamental and Systems Biology area at the Spanish National Evaluation and Foresight Agency (ANEP). The most relevant scientific contributions have been the formulation of a new pattern formation paradigm underlying vertebrate limb development and regeneration, the identification of the regulatory role of Meis genes in cardiovascular and hematopoietic development and the identification of Cell Competition as an endogenous cell selection mechanism in the early mammalian embryo. Currently the group investigates the relevance in cardiovascular development and repair of Cell Competition and Meis transcription factors.