Can the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems evolve fast enough to survive climate change? Tropical rainforests hold over 60% of plant biodiversity and 20% of terrestrial carbon, yet their trees cannot migrate to escape warming. This research turns decades-old forest census plots into evolutionary time machines: by temporally sequencing thousands of tree genomes across hyperdiverse neotropical sites where every tree’s birth and death is on record, we will directly measure natural selection and genetic drift in action, identify genes repeatedly used for climate tolerance, and quantify the diversity already lost to climate change—the first long-term evolutionary monitoring of a tropical ecosystem.

Awards and Achievements

  • Early Career Medal, Genetic Society of America ( 2026)
  • Princess of Girona Award in Research, Spain — bestowed by the King and Princess of Spain on leading figures in science, arts, social work, and entrepreneurship ( 2024)
  • Delegate, UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-16), Cali, Colombia ( 2024)
  • Early Career Faculty Award, American Society for Plant Biology ( 2023)
  • HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute — endowed young investigator position for faculty of exceptional talent, mentoring commitment, and imagination in the life sciences ( 2023)
  • Tansley Medal, UK — for excellence in plant science ( 2022)
  • Delegate, UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-15), Montreal, Canada2 ( 2022)
  • Featured in "Fascination for Science" book and exhibition by Herlinde Koelbl — 60 Nobel laureates and 4 rising stars across all sciences ( 2020-2022)
  • NIH Director's Early Independence Award — ca. ten awards per year to researchers within 12 months of their PhD to start their own laboratory ( 2020)
  • Otto Hahn Medal, Max Planck Society ( 2020)
  • Karl-Freudenberg Award, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences ( 2020)
  • Forbes "30 Under 30" Europe, Science and Technology ( 2020)
  • James F. Crow Early Career Award Finalist, Genetics Society of America ( 2020)
  • Loftus-Hill Young Investigator Prize, American Society of Naturalists ( 2020)
  • Young Scientist Award, German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina ( 2019)
  • Wilhelm Pfeffer Dissertation Prize, German Botanical Society ( 2019)
  • Teufel Foundation Dissertation Award, Tubingen ( 2019)
  • Best Dissertation Award, University of Tubingen ( 2019)
  • EMBO Short-Term Fellowship ( 2017)
  • City Council of Seville, Valedictorian Award for Top Academic Rank ( 2015)
  • Real Maestranza de Caballeria (Royal Cavalry of Seville) Award ( 2014)
  • La Caixa Foundation MSc Scholarship ( 2013)
  • Faculty of Biology, Valedictorian Rank, University of Sevilla ( 2013)
  • Spanish Research Council Scholarship for Early Access to Research (JAE-Intro CSIC) ( 2011)