Centre 4 Living Technology



I am ICREA research professor (the Catalan Institute for research and Advanced Studies). I work at Universitat Pompeu Fabra , where I lead the CSL. I am also External Professor of the Santa Fe Institute and member of the Council of the European Complex Systems Society. I completed degrees in both Physics and Biology at the University of Barcelona and received my PhD in Physics in the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. I currently teach courses of mathematics and systems biology in a new degree of Bioengineering at UPF.

One of my main research interests is understanding the possible presence of universal patterns of organization in complex systems, from prebiotic replicators to evolved artificial objects. Key questions are how robust structures develop, how information is incorporated into these structures and how computation emerges. I am also interested in how to determine what are the contributions of selection, chance and self-organization to the evolution of complexity. Part of these studies are funded by a James McDonnell Foundation Award. Our web lab facilities and synthetic biology research is funded by the Marcelino Botin Foundation I am a member of the editorial board of PLOS ONE and FRONTIERS

Biological computation
Cells compute in ways that are different from those performed by computers. Using a novel approach to biocomputation, we are exploring the problem of how to build complex computations using engineered cells.


Synthetic protocells
We are working towards the creation of an artificial cell able to replicate. This work involves theoretical frameworks to understand the potential scenarios where replicating protocells would be possible (see Center for Living Technology>).

Evolution of viruses
Viruses define the edge of living life forms and behave computationally as "software", using the host cell machinery to replicate. We are studying different scenarios for the evolution of complexity in viruses and their potential for new synthetic biology scenarios.

Information and communication
Information in distributed systems, from bacterial biofilms to collectives of ants or robots, is processed in ways that depart from some conventional metaphors in computation theory. Using theory and synthetic biology techniques we expect to approach this problems under new perspectives.

Evolution and cancer
Cancer cells result from the breaking of cooperation within tissues. Miscommunication and selection replace homeostasis and lead to tumor growth. I am interested in undertanding the role played by genetic instability and information loss.

Evolution of innovation
Funded by the James S. McDonnell Foundation, we explore how tinkering creates complexity and innovation in both biological and technological evolution. This project will include building an in silico model of large-scale evolution of multicellular life.