Born in 1942 in Guadix (Spain), he is Catedrático (full Professor) of Genetics at Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla (Spain).

He holds three Spanish University degrees (Ingeniero Agrónomo, Doctor Ingeniero Agrónomo, Licenciado en Ciencias Biológicas) and a Ph. D. in Biology from Stanford University.

Postdoctoral fellow at California Institute of Technology (1967-1969). Professor at Universidad de Sevilla since 1969, where he founded the Genetics Department. Fairchild Distinguished Scholar at California Institute of Technology (1974-1975) and Humboldt fellow at Universität Göttingen (1982-1983). Twelve additional visits of at least one month to seven institutions in four countries. Invited lectures and courses at institutions of eighteen countries in four languages (including German and French).

His main teachers were Prof. E. Sánchez-Monge, the plant breeder, P. C. Hanawalt, codiscoverer of DNA repair, and M. Delbrück, Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology 1969.

Author of 70 original research papers and 31 review papers and chapters, apart from general articles and opinion papers. Supervisor of 25 doctoral theses. Editor and main author of "Phycomyces" (Cold Spring Harbor, New York, 1987); author of "Nuestros genes" (Salvat, Barcelona, 1981, 1983); director of the film "The Life of Yeast" (Institut für den Wissenschaftlichen Film, 1987), also issued in Spanish and German.

Personal fellowships from Fundación Alfonso Martín Escudero, the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Fundación Elías Ahuja, Gosney Research Fund, Fundación Juan March, Fairchild Foundation, and Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. Principal investigator of research projects financed by the Juan March and Ramón Areces Foundations, several companies, the Spanish and Andalusian Governments, the European Union, and the USA-Spain Joint Committee.

Premio Jaime I de Investigación (the largest scientific prize in Spain). Premio Fundación Aguilar. National University Graduation Prize. Premio Juan Marcilla de Iniciación a la Investigación. Premio Antonio Lleó (Instituto de Ingenieros Civiles de España). Premio Fundación Rosillo. Medalla de Andalucía (from the Andalusian government and parliament). Víctor de Plata (medal from the Spanish government).

Member by competitive election of the European Molecular Biology Organization and the Royal Academy of Sciences of Sevilla. Member of the editorial boards of "Molecular and General Genetics" and "Applied and Environmental Microbiology".