Kike holds a Bachelor’s in Biotechnology from the University of León (Spain), the city where he was born and raised. During that period, he collaborated with the Department of Molecular Biology, studying the (epi)genotoxic effects of BPA on early development. After finishing his Bachelor's, he decided to join MERLN as an internship student, a new adventure on the Regenerative Medicine field. Under the supervision of Paul Wieringa and Aurélie Carlier, he studied the influence of stiffness on axonal growth. One year later, he decided to stay and start a PhD in September 2020 with Paul.

Currently, he is developing an in vitro model of the intestine. The unique complexity of the tissue lies in the multiple interactions with the extracellular matrix and mesenchyme. Moreover, the intestine is one of the most innervated tissues in the body, where the nerve-gut communication and neuroinflammatory processes play a key role. Those interactions have not been well represented in the existing models, so that is why he will focus on developing one that takes these components into account.