Training and academic activities
Puigdomènech Rosell, Pere
Barcelona, 28 April 1948
Married. One son, one daughter.
Degrees and courses
Licenciado en Ciencias Físicas, (B.Sc. in Physics) University of Barcelona, 1970
Thèse de l’Université, mention Chimie Physique. Unversité des Scienes et Techniques du Languedoc. Montpellier. France. 1974
Doctor en Ciencias Biológicas, (Ph.D. in Biology). Autonomous University of Barcelona. 1975
EMBO-NATO International School on Cell and Molecular Biology. Spetsai, Greece. August 1972. NATO travel grant
FEBS-Advanced Course on Protein-Nucleic Acid Interactions. Hintermoos, Austria. March 1973
FEBS-Advanced Course on Physciochemical methods for studying the structure and function of proteins. Puschino-Moscow. June 1977. FEBS travel grant.
EMBO Practical Course on Cloning of Plant Genes. Carslberg Laboratory. Copenhagen. October 1981
Current Position
Profesor de Investigación (Research Professor), Emeritus. CSIC (Spanish Research Council). Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics. CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB
Former Positions
Postgraduate student. Unité de Biophysique. CNRS. Montpellier. France (1971-74)
Postdoctoral fellow. Biophysics Unit. Portsmouth Polytechnic . Portsmouth. UK. (1974-75). EMBO short term and Fundación Juan March Fellowships.
Postdoctoral fellow. Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik. Berlin. Germany.1976
Profesor Adjunto. Biochemistry Departament. Autonomous University of Barcelona.1977-79
Research Associate. Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik, Berlin. Germany. 1979-81
Permanent position in the CSIC (Spanish Research Council) since 1981 until 2018
Director, Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo, CSIC and first Director, Instituto de Biología Molecular de Barcelona, CSIC. 1990-2001
Director. Laboratoire Européen Associé Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology. CNRS-CSIC. 1996-2000
First Director. Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics. CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB. 2003- 2013
Sabbatical stage in the Department of Plant Sciences. University of Cambridge. April-September 2013. Supported by OECD.
Visiting Fellow Commoner of the Trinity College. Cambridge. Easter Term, 2013.
Summary and main achievements.
Science:
Main fields of research: Chromatin structure. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance for Protein Structure. Plant Molecular Biology. Plant Genomics.
First plant sequence published in Spain.
Participation in the first plant genome project. Arabidopsis European Consortium.
Coordinator of the first eukaryotic genome sequence in Spain (Melonomics project).
Scientific Publications
Published 214 scientific articles in refereed journals and books (See: Scientific publications), 2 patents, 18 Ph.D. thesis supervised. Research grants held since 1982 and European research grants since 1986. In the Web of Science 248 items are found with 10680 citations. H-índex in November 2016: 49.
Science and Society:
Articles on science vulgarization since 1969
Publication of more than 500 articles on science in popular and scientific journals, including Nature and large audience Spanish journals such El País or El Periódico. (See: Non Professional publications)
Five books on popular science and scientific fiction.
First Chairman of the Ethics Committee, CSIC. 2008-2012
Presence in several Advisory Instances in Europe and Spain in questions of Biosafety, Science and Society and Ethics of Science.
Meetings
(See: Conferences and Congresses)
Invited speaker in more than 20 Seminars and Conferences annually. Examples: Opening Ceremony International Horticulture Congress. Lisbon 2010. Closing speech Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae Conference. Kobe. Japan, 2011. “The genomes of the plants we eat”. Conference in the Agrosciences network. Toulouse. 2017.
Organizer of:
First meeting “Jornades de Biologia Molecular”. Societat Catalana de Biologia. 1983. 15 ediciones.
First meeting. Cicle d’Enginyeria Genètica, Societat Catalana de Biologia. 1982. 17 edicions.
Joint Meetings with Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire des Plantes. CNRS. Université de Perpignan. 1986-2004
Accions d’estímul de la Biotecnología en Cataluña. Director del Plan Estimulador de la Biotecnología en Catalunya (PEBEC). 1988-1991. First Director del Centre de Referència en Biotecnologia.
Two NATO ASI: Chromosomal Proteins and Gene Expression. Sitges, September 1984. Plant Molecular Biology. Molecular-Genetic Analysis of Plant Metabolism and Development. Mallorca. May 1993.
EMBO Workshop: Eukaryotic gene regulation in vivo and in vitro. Blanes (Spain). September. 1986.
Two Fundación Juan March Symposia: Approaches to Plant Development. Madrid. February 1990.The Past and the Future of Zea Mays. Madrid. May, 1992
7th Congress of the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology. Barcelona. June 2003. Co-Chairman.
B-Debate. The Future of Plant Genomes. Barcelona, 2012. Co-organizer.
Academies and Committees
Member of Academia Europaea and EMBO.
Member of Institut d’Estudis Catalans and Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona. Chairman of the Life Sciences Section. Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Since November 2017.
Member of Académie d’Agriculture de France (foreign), Hungarian Academy of Sciences (foreign) and Portuguese Academy of Sciences (foreign). Sciences and Arts Academy of Toulouse (foreign)
Member of the Board. (2004-2012) European Plant Science Organization (EPSO)
Member of the EU-US Consultative Group on Biotechnology (2000), of the Scientific Steering Committee. European Union, (2000-2003), of the Panel on GMOs, EFSA. (2003-2006), of the European Group on Ethics of Sciences and New Technologies. (2001-2015)
Chairman of the Bioethics Committee, CSIC. (2002-2008)
Chairman of the Ethics Committee. CSIC (2008-2012)
Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board. Saclay Plant Sciences programme. Saclay. Paris. France. (2011-2018)
Co-chairman of the Scientific Committee. Agreenskills Cofund Program. INRA-CIRAD (2012-2019)
Member of the LS9 ERC Panel for Advanced Grants 2009-2013. Chairman of the Panel 2015-2017
Member of the Scientific Committee CNRS. France. 2014-2018
Member of the Expert Group on Biotechnological patents. European Comission. 2013-2016.
Member of the Science and Ethics Working Group. ALLEA. Since 2012.
Member of the Admissions Committee. National Center for Genetic Analysis. Spai, Since 2016.
Member of the Catalan Bioethics Committee. Since 2015.
Member of the Life Sciences Steering Committee. EASAC. Since 2015
Member of the Ethics Committee. INRA-CIRAD-IFREMER. Since 2016
Member of the Membership Committee. EMBO. Since 2017
Member of ALLEA Board. Since 2018
Prizes
Narcís Monturiol Medal (1993),
Prize of the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca (2001), main prize for science in Catalonia.
Prize of the Friends of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2012).
Prize of the Spanish Confederation of Scientific Societies for Science Popularization (2013)
Eureopean Prize for Science Vulgarization. Universitat de València. Editorial Bromera. 2019
Books
Books on science for the general public and novels:
Noves estratègies i altrescontes científics (in Catalan). 1991. Short scientifc novels. Columna Editorial.
El gen escarlata (in Spanish). 2001. Novel on science. Rubes Editorial.
Andreadòria TM. (in Catalan).2007.Novel on science. Publicacions Universitat de València. Vicent Andrés I Estellés Prize.
Qué comemos (in Spanish).2004 Book on general questions around Food. Editorial Planeta. Translated into Portuguese.
Qué sabemos de las plantas que comemos. (in Spanish). 2007. Book on Plants and Food. Editorial Catarata.
Desafíos del futuro. (in Spanish). 2016. Doce dilemas y tres instrumentos para afrontarlos en el duodécimo milenio. Ed. Crítica.
Exploracions pel planeta menjar (in Catalan). 2020. Editorial Bromera
Cròniques de l'ADN (in Catalan). 2020. Editorial Mètode. eBook.
Articles and Opinions
Articles in journals and magazines:
See: Non-Professional Publications
A Series of article on Spanish science in Nature from 1978 to 1982
More than 500 articles on science and science and society questions written since 1982. First article in La Vanguardia, 1982. A weekly section in El Periódico (one of the main journals in Barcelona published in Spanish and Catalan): “El ADN de la semana” (The DNA of the week) and a monthly article on Opinion related to Science. Regular presence in El Pais, the highest impact journal in Spain.
Opinions in Advisory Committees:
Opinions of the European Group of Ethics of Sciences and New Technologies. Rapporteur in several Opinions.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/ege/index.cfm?pg=reports
Expert Group on Biotechnological Patents. European Commission: May 2015
Participation in drafting the Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. ALLEA Working Group on Science and Ethics.
https://www.allea.org/publications/joint-publications/european-code-conduct-research-integrity/