Dr. Jose Jimenez Zarco

Biography

Jose Jimenez Zarco is a molecular microbiologist who earned his Ph.D. in 2006 while working at the Spanish Research Council (CIB-CSIC) on environmental bacteria for the removal of pollutants. He subsequently moved to synthetic biology in bacteria through postdoctoral stays at the National Center for Biotechnology (CSIC; Spain), the Center for Systems Biology at Harvard University (USA), and the Synthetic Biology Center at MIT (USA). He was appointed as a Lecturer in Synthetic Biology at the University of Surrey in 2014 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2018. In 2020, he joined the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London and was promoted to Reader in 2023. His research is currently sponsored by the BBSRC, NERC, the Royal Society, and the Leverhulme Foundation, as well as the Horizon 2020 European Union program. His research focuses on multiple topics at the interface of synthetic biology and evolution, including understanding how evolution shapes the properties of proteins that exhibit quantum mechanisms in vivo, and the trade-offs governing gene expression dynamics in complex microbial communities. Applications of his research range from the development of novel methods to combat antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens to the use of engineered microorganisms for upcycling plastic waste into value-added molecules.

Research Interests

Experience