Associate Professor Toni Gabaldón holds a degree in Biology and an advanced degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Valencia, with special mention. In 2005, he obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences at Nijmegen University, earning the NCMLS award for the best thesis. He then received an EMBO Long-term fellowship and worked at CIPF in Valencia for three years. In 2008, Toni joined the CRG in Barcelona as a junior group leader, leading his group for 11 years. In 2013, he became an ICREA Research Professor and in April 2019, he moved his group with a joint affiliation as a Senior Group Leader to the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine. Since 2009, Toni has been an Associate Professor at the UPF, teaching bioinformatics and comparative and functional genomics.

His research interests focus on using advanced comparative genomics and phylogenomics techniques to investigate the evolution of complex phenotypes in eukaryotes. This includes exploring genotype-phenotype relationships in agriculturally significant crops, like the olive tree, and studying virulence traits in fungal pathogens. Additionally, the investigator is interested in uncovering the connections between the human microbiome and diseases such as cancer and hypertension. A fundamental aspect of their research also involves examining the emergence and diversification of eukaryotes.

Toni is internationally recognised as a leading expert in comparative genomics, bioinformatics, and molecular evolution, with relevant contributions in the origin and evolution of eukaryotic organelles, evolutionary genomics of major eukaryotic lineages, including fungi, plants, and animals, and the implementation of high-throughput evolutionary analyses to address the evolution of traits related to disease and pathogenesis.

He has co-authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Science (4), Nature (3), Cell (1) and Nature Microbiology (5), as well as in leading journals in his field. Overall, his work has received over 44,000 citations and an h-index of 96.