Carles Lalueza-Fox is the Director of the Museum of Natural Sciences in Barcelona and a leading expert in paleogenetics. He pioneered the retrieval of the first complete mitochondrial genome of an extinct species and has contributed extensively to Neanderthal genetic research, with his studies published in prestigious journals like Nature, Science, and PNAS. His research spans extinct species analysis, human population genomics, and ancient pathogens. Lalueza-Fox has published over 200 scientific papers, including in Current Biology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, and Nature Communications. Additionally, he is an advocate for science outreach, having authored numerous popular science books and received multiple awards for his contributions.