Graduated in Biological Sciences (1975) and in Pharmacy (1982), and obtained his PhD in Biology in 1980. Currently, he is a Full Professor in the area of Physiology in the Faculty of Biosciences at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Department of Cellular Biology, Physiology and Immunology) and a researcher in the Neurosciences Institute (INc). His first project as PI was in 1984 (FIS) and since then he has funded continuously as PI.
His researcher activity has been centred in the characterization of:
- The process of adaptation of the pituitary hormones and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) to a repeated daily stressor.
- Identify those metabolic and endocrine variables that are sensitive to the intensity of the stressor.
- The development of animal models of depression.
- The long-term effects of acute stress to characterize appropriate models of post-traumatic stress.
- The influence of early experiences on the future vulnerability to psychopathology.
H index of 53, being in the 2% of the most quoted scientists in the field of the Physiology in the ranking elaborated by the Stanford University in 2019.
Supervisor of Master thesis in the last 10 years (Master in Neurosciences, UAB): 22 Supervision of 33 PhD theses.
Winner of the IX Award of the Fundació Uriach in Health Sciences (2006) with the topic: “Stress: physiology and associated pathologies”. Member of the editorial board of the Journals Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behaviour; Stress; Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience. Director, since his creation in 1985, of the Servei d’Endocrinologia i Radioimmunoanàlisi, placed in the Animal Physiology Unit (UAB), what has allowed him to participate in different contract agreements with national and international companies. He has performed several research stays in international centres. Scientific reviewer in different national and international agencies. He has been a member of Red de Trastornos Adictivos (Institut de Salud Carlos III, 2003-2017) and he is currently a member of CIBERSAM and the TECNOSAM Network. He belongs to the Mixed Unit of Translational Neuroscience INc-UAB/Taulí.