Born in Santiago de Compostela, on its this University he graduated, worked as Assistant Professor and obtained his Ph. D. (1990). As a post-doc at NIH (Bethesda, MD. USA), he became familiar with the use of different methodologies of transgenesis in mice, used to study how oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes act during the oncogenic process, and how growth factors regulate organogenesis during embryonic development. Some of these animal models are still widely used as in vivo genetic modification tools. In 1996 he returned to the CIB (CSIC, Madrid) to study the role of insulin-related growth factors (IGFs) in the lung. In 2002 he moved to the CIC (Cancer Research Center) (USAL/CSIC) in Salamanca (Spain), as a Ramón y Cajal Researcher (CSIC). Here, he led a research group on mechanisms of action of growth factors in lung development and lung cancer. Since 2009, Dr. Pichel as a PI directs the Lung Cancer and Respiratory Diseases Research Unit at the CIBIR (Logroño), where he investigates the implication of IGFs in lung diseases,. With his group, he has generated animal models to study the role of IGFs in the respiratory system and other organs. He has represented Spain in international panels in COST (EU) committees, and since 2019 he is a collaborator at CIBERER-ISCIII (CIBERES). He teaches a Master's degree at the University of La Rioja, He is member of SEBBM/FEBS and SEPAR/ERS. Of the SEBBM he was consul and now is the Treasurer (2020).