Pablo Leivar Rico

Pablo Leivar Rico is an Associate Professor at the IQS School of Engineering (Universitat Ramon Llull), affiliated with the Bioengineering Department and the Grup de Química Biològica i Biotecnologia research group. His work focuses on plant molecular biology and synthetic biology, particularly phytochrome signaling pathways and chloroplast engineering.

Leivar Rico leads or collaborates on multiple research projects including GLYCOENGIN (glycoenzyme engineering), VEG4COS (sustainable cosmetics from plant stem cells), and GQBB (chemical biology and biotechnology group activities). He has secured funding from agencies like AGAUR and ACCIÓ, demonstrating strong industry-academia collaboration.

His research interests span phytochrome-mediated photomorphogenesis, transcriptional regulation in plants, and biotechnological applications of microalgae. Notable contributions include developing genetic toolkits for chloroplast engineering in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and elucidating stomatal movement mechanisms linked to PIF transcription factors.

Leivar Rico has supervised postdoctoral researchers through grants like the Beatriu de Pinós fellowship and collaborates internationally on projects addressing biocatalysis, metabolic engineering, and exosome-based diagnostic technologies.

His lab actively engages in enabling technologies for exosome manufacturing, sustainable cosmetic development, and lung cancer research through extracellular vesicle analysis.