2000-2005: Master/PhD student at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, where I managed to overproduce bacteriocins from lactic acid bacteria in heterologous hosts of interest in the food industry. In collaboration with the Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Council of Canada, Montreal, Canada; and the Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.

2006-2010: Postdoctoral researcher in Ireland; first placement at the School of Food Science and Environmental Health, Dublin Institute of Technology, where I investigated the potential of essential oils as natural preservatives against food-borne pathogens and spoilage bacteria associated with minimally processed food; second placement at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, where I developed and validated a real time PCR test as a diagnostic tool for the detection of Chlamydophila abortus and Toxoplasma gondii, the two leading infectious causes of ovine abortion in Ireland and UK.

2010-2013: Researcher in Spain; first placement at the Salamanca Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology, Spanish Research Council, where I worked on transcriptional responses of plant cells under photo-oxidative stress; second placement at the Cantabria Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Santander, where I was involved in a project focused on drug discovery by using biosynthetic engineering in Streptomyces.

My main research interest is focused on optimising the use of probiotics to promote animal health by reducing the negative impact of food-borne zoonotic pathogens at the farm. Amongst other beneficial properties, probiotics including Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli are known as safe gastrointestinal microbiota since they are able to inhibit the growth of bacterial pathogens; in some cases due to the fact that they are capable of producing very powerful peptides e.g. lantibiotics displaying a broad range of antimicrobial activities.

My second research interest is related to crop damage, particularly about how plants response to oxidative stress. Plants suffering from severe abiotic/biotic stress are unable to cope with high levels of radical oxygen species (ROS), resulting in structural damage and cell death. The use of plant cell cultures as a model can help identify key genes associated with high ROS production for further application on crops able to adapt to unfavourable environmental stress conditions.

As a combined research topic, I’m also interested in the development of new farm vaccine strategies by using genetic engineering on probiotics and plants that facilitate the antigen administration and delivery.

Risco D, Salguero Bodes FJ, Cerrato R, Gutierrez-Merinod J, Lanham-New S, Barquero-Pérez O, Hermoso de Mendoza J, Fernández-Llario P. (2016) 'Association between vitamin D supplementation and severity of tuberculosis in wild boar and red deer'. Research in Veterinary Science, 108, pp. 116-119. doi: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2016.08.003 Gutiérrez J, González-Pérez S, García-García F, Daly CT, Lorenzo O, Revuelta JL, McCabe PF, Arellano JB. (2014) 'Programmed cell death activated by Rose Bengal in Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspension cultures requires functional chloroplasts.'. J Exp Bot, England: 65 (12), pp. 3081-3095. doi: 10.1093/jxb/eru151 Gutierrez J, O'Donovan J, Proctor A, Brady C, Marques PX, Worrall S, Nally JE, McElroy M, Bassett H, Fagan J, Maley S, Buxton D, Sammin D, Markey BK. (2012) 'Application of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction for the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis and enzootic abortion of ewes'. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, 24 (5), pp. 846-854. doi: 10.1177/1040638712452730 O'Donovan J, Proctor A, Gutierrez J, Worrell S, Nally J, Marques P, Brady C, McElroy M, Sammin D, Buxton D, Maley S, Bassett H, Markey B. (2012) 'Distribution of Lesions in Fetal Brains Following Experimental Infection of Pregnant Sheep With Toxoplasma gondii'. Veterinary Pathology, 49 (3), pp. 462-469. doi: 10.1177/0300985811424732