José
A. Bengochea, received training in Bacterial Pathogenesis as a PhD
student under the supervision of Prof. Ignacio Moriyón and Prof. Ramón
Díaz (University of Navarra, Spain). For my Thesis project, I struggled to find out whether there is a correlation between virulence and the properties
of the bacterial surface.
Then I moved to Finland to start a postdoc in Prof. Mikael Skurnik´s lab (University of Turku currently at University of Helsinki, Finland). My goal was to learn state-of-the-art bacterial genetics and publish as many papers as possible. The scientific goal was to unravel how environmental signals likely to be found inside the human host affect the bacterial surface. In addition, we applied our knowledge to construct a set of attenuated strains suitable to create vaccines in a very simple way.
After 5 great years, in 2002 I moved to Palma Mallorca (Spain) after obtaining a "Miguel Servet" contract, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health. This tenured-track position targeted promising young scientist to increase the critical mass and the quality of the science carried out at hospitals. I met excelent MDs and also oriented my research plans with a "clinical flavour" to get closer to real clinical problems.
At the same time, I was building up my research gorup ie recruiting students, submitting grants, trying to pubslish as soon as possible...A very tough time that I enjoyed a lot!! In 2006, I got tenured (I3 Programme, Spanish Ministry of Science) and one year later I obtained a position as associate Prof (with tenured) of Microbial Pathogenesis in the Spanish Resarch Council (CSIC).
In summary, I am an active scientist and my job is my hobby!!!
Then I moved to Finland to start a postdoc in Prof. Mikael Skurnik´s lab (University of Turku currently at University of Helsinki, Finland). My goal was to learn state-of-the-art bacterial genetics and publish as many papers as possible. The scientific goal was to unravel how environmental signals likely to be found inside the human host affect the bacterial surface. In addition, we applied our knowledge to construct a set of attenuated strains suitable to create vaccines in a very simple way.
After 5 great years, in 2002 I moved to Palma Mallorca (Spain) after obtaining a "Miguel Servet" contract, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health. This tenured-track position targeted promising young scientist to increase the critical mass and the quality of the science carried out at hospitals. I met excelent MDs and also oriented my research plans with a "clinical flavour" to get closer to real clinical problems.
At the same time, I was building up my research gorup ie recruiting students, submitting grants, trying to pubslish as soon as possible...A very tough time that I enjoyed a lot!! In 2006, I got tenured (I3 Programme, Spanish Ministry of Science) and one year later I obtained a position as associate Prof (with tenured) of Microbial Pathogenesis in the Spanish Resarch Council (CSIC).
Today, the lab is a bunch of passionate people from three nationalities aiming to develop an internationally recognized research agenda. Our research program provides an excellent environment for learning and discovery in cutting edge research areas of infection biology such as host responses to pathogens, bacteria adaptations to the host and regulation of the expression of virulence factors.
We are particularly interested in crossing the boundaries of research
disciplines and hot areas for us are epigenetics, virology, physics, and
systems biology.
In summary, I am an active scientist and my job is my hobby!!!
