I am César Herrero González, a biologist and Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oslo, working on the identification of convergent genomic signatures of plant adaptation to Arctic environments.
My research combines evolutionary biology, population genomics, epigenomics, molecular laboratory work and reproducible bioinformatics workflows, from raw sequencing data to downstream evolutionary inference.
I am a biologist with a Master’s degree in Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology, currently pursuing a PhD focused on identifying convergent genomic signatures of plant adaptation to Arctic environments.
I am interested in whether independent plant lineages adapting to Arctic environments show repeated genomic patterns, pathways or signatures of adaptation.
My work uses genetic variation across populations to explore evolutionary processes, adaptation, structure and differentiation in natural systems.
I have worked with genomic and epigenomic data to study how genetic and DNA methylation variation may contribute to population-level differences.
Short updates from my research, publications, fieldwork and academic life.
Started my PhD as a Doctoral Research Fellow at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, studying convergent genomic signatures of plant adaptation to Arctic environments.
Joined the first 2026 cohort of BIOCORE as a full-time member. I am part of the BIOCORE Advisory Board, contributing to the development and activities of the research school.
Learn more about BIOCORE →Our first sampling trip of the PhD took us to Kongsvoll, Norway, collecting Arctic-alpine plant material for the project.
A research project I contributed to was featured by TITAN, University of Oslo, as part of a collaboration exploring creative ways to communicate scientific research.
Read the TITAN article →Our optimized MCSeED protocol for preparing epigenomic libraries from partially degraded plant DNA was officially published in STAR Protocols.
Read the paper →I started my research career during the third year of my bachelor’s degree at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where I joined the Genetics group studying how climate change influenced Spanish and Moroccan Abies species. During this time, I learned the fundamentals of molecular research and gained my first experience in bioinformatics.
I completed my master’s thesis at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, where I studied the genomic and epigenomic structure of grasses, combining laboratory experiments with bioinformatic analyses from raw sequencing data processing to the identification of genetic polymorphisms.
I have also worked as a bioinformatician on a Norwegian research project focused on identifying genetic variation and population-level differences in Norwegian beetles, using reproducible pipelines for mapping, variant calling and downstream population genomic analyses.
My current doctoral research integrates comparative genomics, plant evolutionary biology and Arctic adaptation to investigate how similar environmental pressures may shape genomic evolution across independent plant lineages.
Contributed to a bioinformatic study of genetic differences among populations of the specialized beetle Xestobium rufovillosum, within the project Hvordan bevare spesialiserte arter i en verden i endring?
Conducted a genomic and epigenomic study in populations of Nardus stricta, combining greenhouse work, laboratory protocols and bioinformatic analyses.
Worked on population genomic approaches to study how climate change may affect Abies pinsapo and Abies marocana, with a focus on evolutionary processes and phenotypic variation.
Master’s Thesis: “Genomic and epigenomic structure of Nardus stricta” (9.3/10)
End-of-Degree work: “Genomic study of associations in populations of Abies pinsapo” (9.1/10)
Peer-reviewed publications and research outputs resulting from my work in genomics, epigenomics and molecular biology.
STAR Protocols · 7(3) · 104778 · 2026
An optimized MCSeED library-preparation protocol for epigenomic analysis of plant samples yielding low-quality or partially degraded genomic DNA, enabling methylation analysis across CG, CHG and CHH sequence contexts.
These projects connect my research experience with reproducible bioinformatic analyses, from laboratory-generated data to evolutionary interpretation.
Doctoral research project focused on identifying convergent genomic signatures associated with plant adaptation to Arctic environments. The project combines comparative genomics, evolutionary biology and bioinformatics to investigate whether independent plant lineages show repeated genomic responses to similar environmental pressures.
Bioinformatic workflow starting from raw sequencing data and ending in high-quality variant datasets for population genomic analyses. The pipeline included sequence trimming, quality control, mapping, SNP calling and downstream analyses in RStudio.
Master’s thesis project investigating genomic and epigenomic variation in Nardus stricta populations. The project integrated controlled plant growth, laboratory DNA extraction, MCSeED library preparation and computational analysis of SNPs and DNA methylation patterns.
End-of-degree project focused on genomic associations in populations of Abies pinsapo, developed within a broader research context studying climate change effects on Spanish and Moroccan fir species.
I work with Linux-based environments and HPC clusters, building reproducible workflows for sequencing data processing, variant discovery and downstream evolutionary analyses.
I am open to potential collaborations with research groups interested in plant evolutionary genomics, Arctic adaptation, population genomics, epigenomics and bioinformatics workflows. You can find more information about my current academic profile through the University of Oslo, or contact me directly by email.
I am always happy to discuss research ideas, collaborative projects and computational approaches for studying adaptation in non-model organisms. También puedes escribirme en español ;)