Full Professor of Crop Science (Plant Pathology) at the University of Girona since 1993, did the PhD in Microbiology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1983. Later he was incorporated to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia at Girona in 1986 where he created a research group in Plant Pathology, that was incorporated to the University of Girona in 1991. He was Visiting Professor at the Department of Plant Pathology of the University of Cornell (USA) in 1994. Main interest in Plant Pathology and Microbiology, specifically in the areas of epidemiology and integrated control of fruit tree diseases, especially in the field of biopesticides.
He has been the principal investigator in 30 research projects funded by the Generalitat of Catalonia, Spanish Government and European Union, and in 35 R&D contracts. He was coordinator of the ERA-NET PLANT-KBBE project “Plants as biofactories of synthetic antimicrobial peptides”. He is inventor in five patents on microbial biopesticides and synthetic antimicrobial peptides.
He has published 130 scientific papers, 80 in the most relevant SCI peer-reviewed journals, related to plant disease control, like Applied and Environmental Microbiology, European Journal of Plant Pathology, HortScience, International Journal of Food Microbiology, Phytopathology, Plant and Soil, Plant Disease, and Postharvest Biology and Technology, PLOSone, BMC series, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Journal of Applied Microbiology, that have received 900 citations, with an H index of 17.5. He has collaborated as reviewer in several SCI journals and as section editor in International Microbiology and Phytopathologia Mediterranea.
He created and was director of the Official Masters in Food Biotechnology of the University of Girona (2006-2011) and has supervised 15 PhD Thesis. He created in 2001 and is currently director of the Centre for Innovation and Development of Plant Health (CIDSAV) of the University of Girona which pertain to the TECNIO Net.
He has been invited as lecturer in several international and national meetings (International Congress of Plant Pathology 2008 and 2013, IOBC 2006) and has participated in committees for evaluation of research (ERC-UE, CNEAI Spain, ANEP-Spain, AQU-Catalonia, ACSUCYL-Castilla y Leon, AGAE-Andalusia) and as consultant (CTiFL-INRA France, MAPA Spain, DARP Generalitat of Catalonia).
He was President of the Spanish Society of Plant Pathology (2004-2007, currently is Honor Member) and received the Narcís Monturiol medal to the scientific contribution by the Generalitat de Catalunya (2012).