Miguel A. De la Rosa - Biography#
Prof. Miguel A. De la Rosa (born, 1955) graduated from the University of Seville with MSc (1st class) and PhD (cum laude) degrees in Biochemistry in 1977 and 1981, respectively. He was a postdoctoral researcher in UK, first at The North E Wales Institute in 1982 and later in King's College London in 1985 under the supervision of Prof. Paul Heelis and Prof. David Hall, respectively. From 1983 to 1988, he led research projects for Interox química SA (c/o. Solvay & Cie, SA) while teaching at the University of Seville. He was appointed Assistant Professor (1985-95) and Full Professor (1995 till present) at the University of Seville, and Visiting Professor (1990-94) at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
He was the Founding Director of the Biointeractomics Unit at the Institute of Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis in 1988, and moved to the Institute for Chemical Research in 2016; they are both joint institutes of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Seville. From 1996 to 1997, he was Head of the University's Department of Plant Biochemistry. From 2009 to 2018, he was Director of the Scientific Research Center Isla de la Cartuja (cicCartuja), with 400 staff. He is the Founding President of the spin-off ManSciTech S.L.
His research interests are in trying to understand the structure-activity relations of biological macromolecules and, in particular, protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions – which are crucial for a very broad range of cell processes and diseases. He uses a clear-cut multi- and interdisciplinary technology, ranging from molecular and cell biology to biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology and computational chemistry. During his graduate studies, he first pursued the physicochemical basis for redox inactivation of assimilatory nitrate reductase in photosynthetic green algae. In the decade of the eighties, his research focused on solar energy conversion and hydrogen peroxide photoproduction, pioneering the application of laser flash photolysis to the study of redox proteins in Spain. Their main achievements were dealing with i) convergent evolution of iron- and copper-proteins as driven by changing atmospheric dioxygen content, and ii) the evolution and molecular mechanisms of electron transfer in photosynthesis and respiration. Having worked with metalloproteins (heme iron- and copper-containing proteins), his current research projects have allowed to identify a wide network of nuclear and cytoplasmic target proteins for respiratory cytochrome c upon DNA damage and under programmed cell death (PCD) in humans and plants.
His publication record includes more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He is author or co-author of 4 books and 2 patents, and has been invited to deliver ca. 200 lectures worldwide.
Prof. De la Rosa has likewise been very keen in playing an active, leader role in scientific institutions and academic bodies, at the national and international level. In 2021, he was elected Secretary General of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) for the 3-y period 2023-25; FEBS is one of Europe's largest organizations in the molecular life sciences, with over 35,000 members across 39 national societies. In 2012, he was the Chairman of the joint 22nd IUBMB & 37th FEBS Congress, which was held in Seville with the attendance of 2,500 participants, including six Nobel Laureates.
All the above has been done while he has been devoted to his studies on protein chemistry and biophysics at the cicCartuja, where he has trained several current leaders in structural biology who now have leadership roles in science. He has supervised more than 20 PhD students and 20 postdoctoral researchers, some of whom reaching independent faculty positions in leading academic institutions.
