Balcázar Rojas, Jose Luis

José Luis Balcázar received his Ph.D. in Animal Pathology from the University of Zaragoza in 2006 and completed his postdoctoral training at the Institute of Marine Research (IIM-CSIC) in 2009. Moreover, he has carried out research stays at internationally renowned institutions such as Technical University of Munich (Germany); University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (USA); Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University (USA); and École Centrale de Lyon (France). In 2011, Jose Luis was awarded a “Ramon y Cajal” research fellowship to conduct his research in antibiotic resistance. His current research interests are focused on how anthropogenic activities affect microbial communities and to what extent such activities contribute to the acquisition and spread of antibiotic resistance in environmental settings. During the last few years, his research interests have been broadened to include the contribution of bacteriophages to bacterial evolution and ecology. As a result of his research work, he has received recognition including the Excellence Ph.D. Award (University of Zaragoza), the International Award on Animal Health (Laboratorios SYVA), New Lecturer Research Award from the Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM, United Kingdom), and the Jaime Ferran Prize as recognition for his outstanding achievements in microbiology, which is awarded every two years by the Spanish Society for Microbiology.