Curriculum vitae

Marine biodiversity · Molecular systematics · Population and community ecology · Evolutionary biology and biogeography · Ecosystem monitoring with environmental DNA · Marine wildlife conservation

Candidate member of Mexico’s National System of Researchers (SNII, 2025–2028) · Member of the Baja California Sur State System of Researchers (COSCYT)

Education

• PhD in Marine Ecology, CICESE, 2022
  • Thesis: “Integrative study of connectivity in the Gulf of California seascape”. Co-advisors: Dr. Axayácatl Rocha Olivares (CICESE) and Dr. Adrián Munguía Vega (Applied Genomics Lab, University of Arizona).
• MSc in the Use, Management and Preservation of Natural Resources, CIBNOR, 2014
  • Thesis: “Phylogeography and ecological niche modelling of the desert iguana Dipsosaurus dorsalis on the Baja California Peninsula”. Advisor: Dr. Francisco Javier García de León.
• BSc in Biology, Faculty of Sciences, UNAM, 2011
  • Thesis: “Population genetics of Thalassia testudinum seagrass meadows in the reef lagoon of Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo”. Advisor: Dr. Brigitta I. van Tussenbroek (ICMyL-UNAM).

Academic positions

• SECIHTI postdoctoral researcher — Fisheries Ecology Program, CIBNOR (Feb 2024 – present)
  • Project: “Marine biodiversity through environmental DNA techniques (metabarcoding, qPCR and ddPCR) in the Upper Gulf of California: the case of the priority species Totoaba macdonaldi and Phocoena sinus”. PI: Dr. Fausto Valenzuela Quiñonez.
  • In silico, in vitro and in situ design and validation of species-specific molecular detection systems; field and lab coordination; student training; collaboration with CONANP, CICESE and UABCS.
• Scientific consultant, eDNA component lead — National Marine Mammal Foundation / NIWC Pacific (Mar 2024 – present)
  • Vaquita eDNA Project: experimental design, execution and analysis of the molecular detection of Phocoena sinus with environmental DNA; technical coordination of the sampling team.
• Postdoctoral scholar — Whale and Dolphin Ecology Lab (Dr. Amy Van Cise), School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington + NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center (Mar 2023 – Feb 2024)
  • MMARINeDNA project (Marine Mammal Remote detection via INnovative environmental DNA sampling): three-dimensional distribution of cetaceans in the California Current System using eDNA metabarcoding and GAMs. Mentor: Dr. Amy Van Cise; collaborators: Dr. Ryan Kelly and Dr. Kim Parsons.
• Lead researcher — Cetacean Action Treasury (Jun 2021 – Dec 2022)
  • “Pilot Project to Test Viability of Detecting Vaquita Porpoise Presence through Environmental DNA”: experimental design, field and lab work, and scientific reporting.
• Research assistant — Applied Genomics Lab, University of Arizona (Nov 2021 – Jan 2022; Aug – Oct 2022)
  • Consultancy for Oceana Mexico: “Marine biodiversity of Alacranes Reef and Bajos del Norte through eDNA metabarcoding” (12S and COI). Supervisor: Dr. Adrián Munguía Vega.
• Research assistant — LANGEBIO, CINVESTAV-IPN (Sep 2014 – Mar 2015)
  • DNA barcoding and thermal tolerance in salamanders; eDNA sampling in caves. Supervisor: Dr. Sean Rovito.
• Research assistant — Conservation Genetics Laboratory, CIBNOR (2010–2022, four periods)
  • “Comparative phylogeography of northwestern Mexico” (2010–2011); “Molecular taxonomy and population genetics of the cannonball jellyfish Stomolophus meleagris” (2014); “Genetic variability and probable origin of colonizing populations in the area affected by the tanker Lázaro Cárdenas II” (2014); Fisheries Ecology Program (2022).

Research projects

As principal investigator or scientific lead

• Vaquita eDNA Project: A Validated eDNA Workflow for Vaquita Monitoring (Nov 2025 – ongoing)
  • Principal investigator. Funded by the Dolphin Quest Research & Grants Committee. Co-PI: Dr. Barbara Taylor.
  • International consortium with Dr. Lorenzo Rojas Bracho (UNDP), Dr. Gustavo Cárdenas Hinojosa (CONANP), Dr. Valeria Towns (Pronatura Noroeste), Dr. Kristin Nowell (Cetacean Action Treasury) and Dr. Fausto Valenzuela Quiñonez (CIBNOR).
  • Includes a citizen-science component with the Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve (CONANP).
• Vaquita eDNA Project / Operation Esperanza — National Marine Mammal Foundation / NIWC Pacific (2024 – ongoing)
  • eDNA component lead: molecular assays, sampling optimization, team coordination and final report.
• Pilot Vaquita eDNA Project — Cetacean Action Treasury (2021–2022)
  • Lead researcher. Funded by the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund and the Society for Marine Mammalogy; oceanographic equipment from the eDNA Collaborative (University of Washington).

As collaborator

• “From genome to species assemblage: neutral, selective and functional evolutionary processes structuring biodiversity in marine environments” — Basic and Frontier Science CBF-2026-4124, SECIHTI; PI: Dr. Fausto Valenzuela Quiñonez, CIBNOR; CIBNOR, CICESE and UABCS consortium (2026–2028)
• “Genetic and functional diversity of Symbiodiniaceae dinoflagellates as resilience bioindicators in coral communities of the Mexican Pacific” — Basic and Frontier Science CBF-2026-1572, SECIHTI; PI: Dr. Manuel Alejandro Delgadillo Nuño, CICESE; with CIBNOR, Universidad de Colima and UAM (2026–2028)
• Oarfish (Regalecus glesne) — collaboration with Fernanda Raygoza Díaz (2026 – ongoing)
• MAR-Gen Caribe: Metabarcoding for the Biodiversity of the Mexican Caribbean — Healthy Reefs for Healthy People (2025 – ongoing)
• “Golden tides: understanding sargassum biology and exploring its aquaculture potential” — Frontiers of Science CBF 2023-2024-1414, SECIHTI; PI: Dr. Brigitta I. van Tussenbroek, ICMyL-UNAM (2025 – ongoing)
• “Marine biodiversity through environmental DNA techniques (metabarcoding, qPCR and ddPCR) in the Upper Gulf of California: the case of the priority species Totoaba macdonaldi and Phocoena sinus” — Postdoctoral Fellowships for Mexico, SECIHTI; PI: Dr. Fausto Valenzuela Quiñonez, CIBNOR; postdoctoral researcher (2024 – ongoing)
• MMARINeDNA: Marine Mammal Remote detection via INnovative environmental DNA sampling — Whale and Dolphin Ecology Lab, University of Washington, and NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center; postdoctoral researcher (2023–2024)
• “Convergent evolutionary patterns of local adaptation in the marine environment” — Frontiers of Science FOP16-2021-01-321016; PI: Dr. Fausto Valenzuela Quiñonez, CIBNOR (2022–2023)
• Alacranes Reef — Oceana Mexico / Applied Genomics Lab, University of Arizona (2021–2022)
• “Developing environmental DNA tools to monitor changes in marine biodiversity in the Gulf of California” — National Geographic Explorer Grant; PI: Dr. Adrián Munguía Vega (2019–2020)
• eDNA monitoring tools for marine reserves of the Gulf of California — Consortium for Arizona-Mexico Arid Environments (CAZMEX); PIs: Dr. Melanie Culver (University of Arizona) and Dr. Héctor Reyes Bonilla (UABCS) (2019)

Grants and funding

Research funding

• Eric A. Ramos Small Grant in Aid of Research, Society for Marine Mammalogy: environmental DNA sampling for the vaquita in the Zero Tolerance Area of the Vaquita Refuge, Upper Gulf of California. One of six proposals funded out of 57, 2026.
• Dolphin Quest Research & Grants Committee: Vaquita eDNA Project: A Validated eDNA Workflow for Vaquita Monitoring. Principal investigator (co-PI: Dr. Barbara Taylor), 2025.
• SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund: Pilot Vaquita eDNA Project, Cetacean Action Treasury. Lead researcher, 2021.
• Society for Marine Mammalogy: Pilot Vaquita eDNA Project, Cetacean Action Treasury. Lead researcher, 2021.
• eDNA Collaborative micro-grant (University of Washington): oceanographic equipment for the vaquita pilot project, 2022.
• Illumina Core-Lab Sequencing Grant: “New techniques for assessing marine biodiversity in the Gulf of California using environmental DNA”, 2017.

Fellowships

• Postdoctoral fellowship, SECIHTI (formerly CONAHCyT), 2024–2029
• Postdoctoral fellowship, University of Washington, 2023–2024
• PhD fellowship, CONACyT, 2016–2020
• MSc fellowship, CONACyT, 2011–2013

Awards and memberships

• Candidate member, National System of Researchers (SNII), SECIHTI, 2025–2028
• Member, Baja California Sur State System of Researchers (COSCYT), 2024 – present

Teaching

Graduate courses

• Metabarcoding of eukaryotic communities — Graduate Program in Marine Sciences and Limnology, UNAM (November 2025); Continuing Education, CIBNOR (March 2026).
  • I designed and taught this five-day hands-on course on environmental DNA metabarcoding of eukaryotic communities, from sampling design to bioinformatic and statistical analysis in R (taught in Spanish). Course website · Code
• Introduction to spatial analysis in ecology — MSc in the Use, Management and Preservation of Natural Resources, CIBNOR (May–August 2025).
  • Instructor in the course coordinated by Dr. Pedro Peña Garcillán. I taught the theory of spatial structure in ecology, the analysis and interpretation of spatial patterns in ecological variables, and statistical and R programming tools to process, visualize and evaluate spatial data.
• Conservation Genetics — MSc in the Use, Management and Preservation of Natural Resources, CIBNOR (May–August 2025).
  • Instructor in the course coordinated by Dr. Francisco Javier García de León.
• Systematics (micro- and macroevolution) — MSc in the Use, Management and Preservation of Natural Resources, CIBNOR (first trimester of 2025).
  • I taught the phylogenomics module and case studies on innovative tools for studying biodiversity (species and communities) in terrestrial and marine environments. Course coordinated by Dr. David A. Paz García and Dr. Alejandro Valdez Mondragón.

Hands-on training and workshops

• Community training in environmental DNA sampling and processing — San Felipe, Baja California (2026), as part of the Dolphin Quest project. 12 participants: San Felipe residents, members of Pesca ABC, and staff from CONANP and the Mexican Navy. Included on-board practice and an Environmental DNA Manual.
• Laboratory practice for UABC Agronomy Engineering students — visit to CIBNOR (November 2025).
• eDNA reef sampling training — Healthy Reefs for Healthy People, Mexican Caribbean (2025): co-designed sampling and trained the field team.
• Trainer at the 3rd Marine Mammal eDNA Workshop — 25th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Perth, Australia (2024).
• Coordinator, “Metabarcoding of eukaryotic communities” workshop — CIBNOR (2020).
• Invited speaker, 1st Environmental DNA Workshop — UABCS (2019): introduction to metabarcoding for studying marine organisms.
• Mentor, “Women Leaders in STEAM” program — British Council (2019).
• Organizer, “Introduction to statistical analysis for landscape genetics” workshop — CIBNOR (2013).

Student supervision

See the Students page.

Software and open repositories

More than 25 public repositories on GitHub, including bioinformatic pipelines and reproducible analyses. Highlights:

• metabarcoding_QAQC_pipeline: collaborative quality-control pipeline for eDNA metabarcoding (MMARINeDNA network, University of Washington and NOAA).
• eDNAoccurrenceSDM: R tool integrating GAMs with metabarcoding occurrence data for marine species distribution models.
• MolEcolRes_Valdivia_etal_2021: reproducibility repository for Valdivia-Carrillo et al. (2021), Molecular Ecology Resources.
• Metabarcoding course: course materials and code (in Spanish).

Technical and computational skills

• Molecular ecology: DNA and eDNA extraction and quantification (Qubit, NanoDrop, Bioanalyzer); design and validation of species-specific qPCR (CFX96) and ddPCR (QX200) assays; library preparation for Illumina (MiSeq, NovaSeq) and Nanopore (MinION); metabarcoding (12S, 16S, 18S, COI, ITS); RAD-seq and ddRAD-seq; microsatellites; Sanger sequencing.
• Bioinformatics and high-performance computing: metabarcoding and population genomics; Hyak cluster (UW), NOAA NWFSC servers, and CIBNOR and UNAM infrastructure.
• Statistical modeling: GAMs, GAMMs, GLMs, species distribution models (including Bayesian), ecological niche modeling (Maxent) and machine learning.
• Programming and GIS: R, UNIX; ArcGIS, QGIS.

Courses and workshops attended

Statistical analysis and ecological modeling

• Species Distribution Modelling with Bayesian Statistics using R — Dr. Márcia Barbosa (2024)
• Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) — Dr. Antonio Canepa, University of Burgos (2023)
• Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) — Dr. Florian Hartig (2023)
• Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) — Dr. Gavin Simpson, Aarhus University (2023)
• Dynamic Network Structure — Dr. Guillermo de Anda Jáuregui, INMEGEN / UNAM (2021)

Bioinformatics, genomics and metabarcoding

• Metagenomic Analysis — International Bioinformatics Workshops TIB2024-2 (2024)
• Abalone Whole Genome Sequencing analysis — Dr. Brock Wooldridge (2024)
• Advanced bioinformatics workshop — UNAM, CINVESTAV Irapuato, INB-UNAM (2021)
• Genome and Metagenome Assembly and Annotation — Dr. Luis Lozano, CCG-UNAM, Mexican Bioinformatics Network (2020)
• Seascape Genomics — Dr. Laura Benestan and Dr. Oliver Selmoni, Physalia Courses (2020)
• Eukaryotic Metabarcoding — Dr. Owen Wangensteen and Dr. Sandra Garcés Pastor, Physalia Courses (CIBNOR 2020; UCR, Costa Rica 2019)
• RADseq — Dr. Naiara Rodríguez Ezpeleta, Physalia Courses (2020)
• 9th Metabarcoding Spring School — Dr. Pierre Taberlet et al., Universidad de los Andes, Colombia (2019)
• Landscape Genetics Seminar — Dr. Helene Wagner (2018)
• Environmental Metagenomes and Metatranscriptomes — Dr. Titus Brown et al., UC Davis / CICESE (2017)
• RADseq Data Analysis — Dr. Julian Catchen and Dr. Christopher Smith, CICESE (2016)

Peer review and evaluation

• Ad hoc reviewer: Environmental DNA (Wiley reviewer certificate 2025), Molecular Ecology Resources, Journal of Fish Biology, Aquatic Botany, Conservation Genetics Resources, Frontiers in Marine Science, Frontiers in Mammal Science, Frontiers of Biogeography, Metabarcoding and Metagenomics, Recursos Naturales y Sociedad.
• Grant review panel, Baja California Sur Council of Science and Technology (COSCYT/COSHCYTI), 2025 and 2026 calls.
• Reviewer, Postdoctoral Fellowships for Mexico call, SECIHTI, 2025.

Fieldwork

• Vaquita survey expeditions in the Zero Tolerance Area of the Upper Gulf of California, 2022, 2024 and 2026 — eDNA sampling and processing.
• Scientific expeditions in the Gulf of California aboard the “Quino el Guardián”, 2018 and 2019 — eDNA sampling and processing.
• eDNA sampling on Mexican Caribbean reefs (Cancún, Isla Mujeres–Punta Nizuc and Puerto Morelos), 2025.
• Salamander sampling in Morelos, Mexico, 2014.
• Reptile sampling in Baja California, Mexico, 2012.
• Cactus sampling in Baja California, Mexico, 2011.
• Seagrass, algae and coral studies in the Mexican Caribbean, 2008–2010.

Diving certifications

• CMAS Scientific Diver — ICMyL-UNAM, Puerto Morelos, 2008
• FMAS/CMAS Two-Star Diver (Mexican Federation of Underwater Activities) — ICMyL-UNAM, Puerto Morelos, 2008
• CMAS One-Star Diver — Faculty of Sciences, UNAM, 2007

Languages

• Spanish (native)
• English (fluent)