Roberto Alvarez-Fernandez Garcia was born in Castropol (Asturias, Spain), in 1991. He obtained his BSc Biotechnology in 2014 at the University of Oviedo, where he also obtained a Master’s Degree in Analytical and Bioanalytical Sciences in 2015.

In 2015 he joined the Mass Spectrometry and Biomedical Analysis group at the University of Oviedo to start his PhD under the supervision of Professors Jörg Bettmer and María Montes-Bayón and obtained a 4-year predoctoral contract from FINBA (Fundación para la Investigación Biosanitaria del Principado de Asturias). During the predoctoral stage, his research was focused on the development of analytical strategies based on inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for the analysis of small structures such as single cells and nanoparticles. The developed methods were applied in biomedical applications such as the study of metallodrug uptake in sensitive and resistant cancer cells or the interaction of metallic nanoparticles with biological systems. During this stage, he also carried out two research stays at the University of Crete and the University of Vienna during approximately 1 and 3 months, respectively. In 2020 he finally defended his thesis entitled “Analysis of small structures by ICP-MS: Method development and selected applications” obtaining the highest mark ( “cum laude”) with the International Mention.