Introduction

👋 Hi, I'm Santi — an evolutionary biologist fascinated by how life’s incredible diversity came to be. I’m currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Fish Evolution and Genomics Group from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, where I use genomics and bioinformatics to explore how heritable variation drives evolutionary innovation.

I’m especially interested in how organisms adjust, specialize, and sometimes reinvent themselves to meet the challenges of extreme environments. To tackle these questions, I've studied a variety of animals, including some of the world’s rarest Neotropical frogs, as well as high-altitude honey bees, and cavefishes adapted to perpetual darkness in China, among others.

By uncovering the genetic foundations of adaptation, I aim to understand how species might respond to future environmental changes, helping guide conservation and supporting industries that depend on healthy ecosystems, like agriculture and fisheries. To learn more, see my Research.

Thanks for your interest in my work!

Academia

Funding

My research is currently possible thanks to the Foreign Young Talent Program from the China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). Previously, my work has also been funded by the Research Fund for International Young Scientists (RFIS-I) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) for Visiting Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). My doctoral research was financed by the Spanish Government through several grants. I am very grateful to all these institutions for their support.