What is Molecular Biology? What are the tools for editing the genome? What is gene therapy? Moisés Mallo, lead researcher of the “Standardisation and Morphogenesis” group at the Gulbenkian Science Institute, is to approach these questions and speak about the latest techniques for the modification of the genome in living beings, entitled CRISPR-Cas9, that has revolutionised the genetic world and demonstrated great potential for undertaking gene therapy in humans.

Moisés Mallo graduated in General Medicine and Surgery from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) in 1987. He gained his doctoral degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the same university before moving to New York in 1991 to begin post-doctoral study on embryo development. He continued his work as the lead researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Since 2001, he has been lead researcher at the Gulbenkian Science Institute where he studies the molecular mechanisms behind the formation of the axial skeleton and the role of the Hox genes in these processes.