Ricardo AmilsDr. Ricardo Amils is Professor Emeritus at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Professor at the Spanish National Research Council’s (CSIC) Astrobiology Center. He obtained his BSc in Chemistry and his PhD in Biological Chemistry from the Universidad Atónoma de Barcelona and conducted research at Dartmouth University and Columbia University prior to returning to Spain as a full-time researcher and professor. He co-founded the CSIC Astrobiology Center (INTA-CSIC) and has published widely on the evolution of extremophiles (halophilic, thermophilic, acidophilic) that may serve as model organisms/terrestrial analogues of astrobiological interest. In the last 30 years, he has devoted his research to the biological characterization of Río Tinto, an acidic river containing high concentrations of ferric iron and sulfuric acid that is considered one of the best terrestrial Mars analogues. Read More Read Less