My Research Group focuses on developing different chemical and biological processes for converting renewable biomass into biofuels and bioproducts. The developments and achievements in this research activity contribute to valorising biomass within a Circular Economy and Biorefinery context, allowing obtaining of different industrially relevant bioproducts.

I received my PhD in Chemistry from the Antonio Gonzalez Bioorganic Institute (IUBO) of the University of La Laguna (Spain) in 2005 with the thesis entitled "Diterpenes from cultivated Salvia canariensis. Synthesis of abietatrienes. Biological activities" (advisor: L. San Andrés & J.G. Luis). This work won the Prize for the best PhD thesis written and successfully passed in Chemistry at the University of La Laguna in 2005. Then I did three years of postdoctoral stays at the University of Reading (UK) with Prof. L.M. Harwood and the UNAM (Mexico) with Prof. A. Romo and Prof. L.D. Miranda. I also have experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where I worked before joining my current position at the National Polytechnic Institute in 2010.
I found my passion for natural products during my PhD studies. I developed a process for the isolation of Carnosol (price ~370 USD /10mg) and the semi-synthesis of rosmanol (540 USD /10mg) and 7-methylrosmanol (280 USD/1 mg). For that reason, the focus of my research group is to promote the sustainable use of natural resources to develop new products of biological origin for therapeutic and industrial applications. For example, I started a program for the documentary on the use of Mexican species according to ethnopharmacological approaches. Moreover, I try to valorise footwear leather wastes and proteins obtained from porcine gastrointestinal mucosa to obtain biocarbon or products for the tanning industry, respectively. I am interested in the social impact of my research. We designed and manufactured a portable distillation system for essential oils from medicinal plant waste to alleviate poverty in Mexico's most marginal rural communities. Due to its social aspect, this project won the X 2 Award for Technological Innovation in the State of Guanajuato. It is important to note I received economic support from many Mexican institutions.