Irene Munoz Gabaldon

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Murcia (UMU) in 2006 and I started my research activity in the “Phylogeny and Animal Evolution” excellence group in 2007. In 2008 I obtained a FPU scholarship of the Ministry of Education (Spain) through which I did my doctoral thesis entitled “Genetic variation and conservation of populations of Apis mellifera L.”, which I presented in 2013 under the “International Mention” model. During the development of my FPU scholarship I made three stays in foreign centers in (i) the analysis of linked microsatellite markers with Prof. R.F.A. Moritz (Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg-Germany), (ii) the analysis honeybee haplotypic networks with Dr. Alice Pinto (Polytechnic Institute of Bragança-Portugal), and (iii) the molecular determination of honeybee pathogens with Dr. Mariano Higes (Apicultural Center of Marchamalo-Spain).
Between 2014 and 2016 I have enjoyed a postdoctoral fellowship from the Séneca Foundation at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal) entitled “Identification of positive selection in the Iberian bee (Apis mellifera iberiensis) by complete genome sequencing “. Later, I obtained a postdoctoral fellowship at the UMU during 2016 and between 2017 and 2019 I have enjoyed a postdoctoral fellowship Saavedra Fajardo at the UMU. Currently, I have been granted a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación contract until 2023. I have an outstanding research career, with more than 10 years studying and applying molecular techniques to characterize insect biodiversity, mainly pollinators. I have initiated a new line of research in population genomics of pollinators of agricultural and livestock interest (honeybees, bumblebees, bee pathogens, analysis of pollination services).