Biophysical Society Bulletin | March 2020

Biophysicist in Profile

pulmonary surfactant, in various different models we have developed in the laboratory; 30 percent of our time is used on collaborative work with groups interested in clinical research, or in animal models of respiratory pathologies; and finally, 20 percent of our time is devoted to projects related with respi- ratory drug delivery, with special interest in the application of nanotechnology to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools,” he explains. In addition to the challenges associated with administrative responsibilities, Perez-Gil has faced the difficulties that natu- rally come along with the advancement of scientific research. “A main challenge for an old biologist like me was the intro- duction of molecular biology tools into my lab and research. It was clear that we needed to be able to clone and overexpress proteins and their variants to have a full understanding of their structure-function relationships, something that I had not had the opportunity to learn during my graduate and postdoc education,” he says. “In our case, I was extremely lucky that we could incorporate an extraordinary postdoc in our laboratory, Jose Maria Oviedo , who, with an exquisite gen- erosity, introduced all the molecular biology tools in the lab, including setting the methods and infrastructure, training our students and researchers, and ultimately educating our minds to have molecular biology as one more approach to combine with biophysics. When Jose Maria finished with us, he entered the seminary to become a Catholic priest! I then understood why a postdoc like him did not mind investing so much time with so little personal reward (considering the logical aca- demic urgencies one could expect in a postdoc in the middle of his/her career). We will be always indebted to Jose Maria’s generosity.” While the intimate moments of discovery a researcher expe- riences are personally satisfying for Perez-Gil, he says, “the satisfaction of opening the eyes and minds of the youngest scientists to the beauty of research is even better.” In the short term, Perez-Gil hopes to connect the biophysical work from his lab with true novel diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities in respiratory medicine. But taking a longer view, he says, “To be honest, perhaps the best contribution to biophysics I can aspire to is the initiation into science and bio- physics of young people with the potential to become some of the greatest biophysicists of the future.” As a model for this vision, he holds up Portuguese biophys- icist Manuel Prieto . “The huge contribution of Manuel to biophysics is difficult to summarize but he still enjoys more than ever travelling with his students to attend conferences while also enjoying together the culture and nature of visiting places. Going with Manuel anywhere guarantees that you will believe again in humankind.”

After a couple of years at Memorial, he took an opportunity to learn more about membrane biophysics by working at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, Germany. He worked in the lab of Derek Marsh , an expert in the application of electron spin resonance tools to the study of membranes and membrane proteins. “When I attended my first BPS meetings, I decided that biophysics was certainly the field I wanted to belong to,” he shares. “Every year I was coming back home [with] plenty of new ideas and potential experiments, contacts of people who I could collaborate with, and a strong motivation to produce nice results that I could bring the following year. Compared to the environment of other meetings, especially in Europe, I found the BPS meetings much more committed with giving opportunities to young people to attend and exchange ideas and projects. It is also particularly unique in promoting the encounter of young and experienced scientists, which in the end inspires and consolidates vocations.” A very young family of scientists, living the big adventure of a postdoctoral stage in a far away and cold (but charming) place.

A biophysicist as Dean of the Biology Faculty of Complutense University, the largest public university in Spain.

Perez-Gil returned to Madrid and Complutense University, where he is now full professor in the biochemistry and molec- ular biology department, as well as dean of the biology facul- ty. In spite of the administrative demands on his time, he tries to keep his lab running smoothly and specializing in many as- pects of pulmonary surfactant biology and lung homeostasis. “Thus, we run about 50 percent of our research still exploring the fundamental molecular and biophysical mechanisms of

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