Biography

Oscar Vicente was born in 1956, in Madrid (Spain), where he graduated in Biochemistry in 1976 and obtained his PhD in Sciences in 1983. After a three-year postdoctoral period at the Friedrich-Miescher Institut in Basel (Switzerland), Oscar Vicente moved in 1988 to the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, University of Vienna (Austria), where he established and led a research group working on different aspects of plant reproductive biology and its biotechnological applications, and on the molecular characterisation of pollen allergens and plant MAP kinases. As Assistant Professor from 1991 to 1996, he was responsible for several courses in Experimental Genetics taught at the Faculty of Sciences. Oscar Vicente returned to Spain in 1996 to join the Polytechnic University of Valencia faculty, where he is currently a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Department of Biotechnology, teaching different subjects in this area to Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering students. His research interest focuses on studying plant responses to abiotic stress and stress tolerance mechanisms in the context of climate change. Oscar Vicente has published over 180 ISI-indexed scientific papers, most in the category of Plant Science. He is vice-president and coordinator for Spain of the European Biotechnology Thematic Network Association (EBTNA) and is included amongst the ‘Top-100’ Spanish scientists in Plant Science and Agronomy (Research.com). In 2017, he was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca (Romania).