Anatomist Luis Puelles Awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by UMH

28 de January de 2025

The Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche celebrated the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas today, during which the neuroembryologist and anatomist Luis Puelles was awarded an Honorary Doctorate. Puelles' research group has been an associate member of the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the UMH and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), since its establishment in 1990. The ceremony was presided over by UMH Rector Juan José Ruiz, and Puelles’ sponsor was Salvador Martínez, Professor of Anatomy and Human Embryology at UMH, who leads the Neurobiology of mental, neurodegenerative, and neuro-oncological diseases laboratory at the IN.

Photo: Salvador Martínez, Luis Puelles and UMH rector Juan José Ruiz (UMH)

Luis Puelles is a national and international reference in Developmental Neurobiology. He has served as a Professor of Neuroanatomy at the University of Murcia for over three decades and as Principal Investigator of the 'Brain Regionalization and Developmental Genes' group at the Murcia Institute of Biosanitary Research (IMIB). Puelles has made substantial contributions to understanding brain development from its earliest stages. His name appears in nearly 300 scientific works, including articles, academic book chapters, and anatomical atlases. Notably, he contributed to the Allen Developing Mouse Brain Atlas (2008-2011), collaborating on its design, technical details, and the production of reference atlases and terminological ontology.

Scientific Career

Luis Puelles studied medicine in Granada and earned his doctorate in Seville (1973). He has taught neuroanatomy and researched neuroembryology and comparative neuroanatomy at the universities of Granada, Seville, Badajoz, Cádiz, and Murcia. Throughout his career, he has engaged in numerous international collaborations, resulting in 17 research stays at prominent universities and research centers.

Puelles has been the principal investigator of over 40 national and international projects and has served on the editorial boards of more than ten prestigious neuroscience journals. Additionally, he has been an active member of several national and international scientific societies. Noteworthy roles include his tenure as President of the Spanish Society for Neuroscience (1997-1999) and as Director of the Murcia University-Hospitals Node of the CIEN Network (Center for Research on Neurological Diseases) of the Spanish Health Research Fund (FIS) in 2003.

The neuroembryologist contributed to the staged development of the prosomeric model of vertebrate brain development, as well as to the creation of detailed and elaborate topological genoarchitectonic models of the pallium, subpallium, hypothalamus, diencephalon (avian and amphibian pretectum), midbrain, brainstem, and neural plate.

Source: Servicio de Comunicación UMH / Institute for Neurosciences CSIC-UMH (in.comunicacion@umh.es)