My research activity aims to unveil the limits of molecular complexity in the interstellar medium and to understand how the fundamental chemical ingredients for life evolve, based on the detection of new interstellar molecules. My research works hinge around Molecular Spectroscopy, adopting a multidisciplinary approach that addresses experimental, theoretical and observational aspects. Such expertise has led to surprising discoveries such as: i) Theoretical investigation of several glycine isomers and glycine precursors, its subsequent rotational characterization in the laboratory and their interstellar search, which has finally led to the detection of the first glycine isomer in the ISM: glycolamide; ii) Detection of the elusive carbonic acid, HOCOOH, the first interstellar species containing more than two oxygen atoms and the third carboxylic acid identified so far in the ISM. iii) A thorough experimental and astronomical study of complex interstellar aldehydes in the Galactic Center region, which shows that this family of complex organic molecules is characterized by a drop of one order of magnitude in abundance at each incrementation in the level of molecular complexity; iv) First detection of O-protonated carbonyl sulfide, HOCS+, in the interstellar medium. In parallel to this topic, I also perform rotational studies to disclose the shape of relevant organic and biomolecules, which has also impacted other fields outside the astrophysical community, such as physical-chemistry and biochemistry (highlighting the study of barbaralones, an archetypical fluxional molecule, Front Cover in Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed.).
After graduating from the Universidad de Valladolid (UVa, Extraordinary Award B.S. Chemistry 2017), and following up the M.S. Advanced Techniques in Chemistry (Extraordinary Award M.S. Advanced Techniques in Chemistry 2018), I did my PhD studies in Chemistry at UVa under the joint supervision of Prof. José L. Alonso and Prof. Carmen Barrientos. The topic of my PhD thesis was the synergetic experimental-theoretical study of interstellar molecules and biomolecules, based on rotational spectroscopic techniques and state-of-the-art quantum-chemical computations (Cum Laude, International mention, March 2022; Extraordinary Award PhD in Chemistry, UVa, June 2023; ASEVA Best Thesis Award, September 2023). Currently, I am a Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Fellow at CAB, where I am exploring the Ultra-deep Line Spectral Survey of the molecular cloud G+0.693-0.027 based on Yebes 40-m, IRAM 30-m, APEX, and GBT observations.
