Alejandro Gonzalez-Martinez

He earned his degree in Pharmacy in 2009 from the University of Granada, receiving a national collaboration grant in his fifth year to work in the Department of Microbiology. Later, through an excellence contract from the Andalusian Regional Government, he completed his international doctoral thesis at the University of Granada, studying new autotrophic nitrogen removal systems from both a technical and microbiological perspective. As part of his doctoral research, he conducted a research stay at the Technical University of Delft (Netherlands), where he had the opportunity to work with full-scale anammox bioreactors. His research culminated in the defense of his doctoral thesis, for which he received the highest distinction, cum laude, and was later awarded the Extraordinary Doctorate Award by the University of Granada. In recognition of his research on anammox systems, he won the 3rd edition of the SACYR Innovation Awards in the field of technological and environmental innovation.

After completing his Ph.D., he obtained various postdoctoral contracts. The first was an excellence postdoctoral contract from the Andalusian Regional Government at the University of Granada, followed by another postdoctoral contract at the Technical University of Aalto (Finland). Notably, during his stay in Finland, he conducted operational and microbiological studies on full-scale wastewater treatment systems in the Arctic Circle. This experience enabled him to collaborate with various biotechnology and energy companies, securing significant private-sector projects focused on energy generation using electroactive microorganisms in wastewater treatment systems in Nordic countries. He later joined the Department of Microbiology at the University of Granada, where he is now a tenured professor, combining teaching and research activities.

To date, he has supervised several doctoral theses and numerous postdoctoral researchers, both nationally and across Europe. He has published over 100 research articles in international journals (JCR), is the author of multiple patents, and has presented a significant number of contributions at national and international conferences. Additionally, he has participated in more than 30 research projects at private, regional, national, and European levels, acting as principal investigator and scientific coordinator in several of them. His outstanding career led him to be awarded the title of Best Young Researcher at the University of Granada in 2019.From a teaching perspective, he has collaborated in delivering numerous undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Furthermore, he has participated in national and international educational projects, including those under the Grundtvig, NIREAS, and ITACA programs, in cooperation with universities from the EU and non-EU countries such as Azerbaijan.

Currently, he serves as an editor for several international journals, and his research focuses on environmental microbiology, the development of new granular technologies in wastewater treatment, and the advancement of energy production technologies through direct electricity generation or the production of hydrogen and ammonia.In parallel, his research also focuses on antimicrobial resistance. His work in this field aims to characterize resistance mechanisms in both environmental and clinical settings and develop innovative strategies to mitigate the spread of resistance genes. This research has facilitated interdisciplinary collaborations with national and international institutions, significantly contributing to the understanding of antimicrobial resistance dynamics and its impact on human and environmental health.

As a result of his contributions, he has been included in the World¿s Top 2% Scientists ranking by Stanford University (USA) in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, recognizing him as one of the most prestigious and influential scientists in the field of biotechnology.