Miguel López-Botet became director of IMIM in October 2006, assuming as well the research management at IMAS. This guarantees the scientific and administrative coordination required to consolidate the development of a competitive level of clinical and translational research.

Miguel López-Botet was appointed director of IMIM after an external selection process with an international scope, to which over 30 applications were received. During that period, IMIM and Hospital del Mar (IMAS), through their joint Research Strategy Committee, established the criteria for a new research organization model that was then submitted to the consideration of an External Assessment Committee, constituted by a group of prestigious scientists presided by Professor Anthony Newman-Taylor, Director of the United Kingdom National Heart and Lung Institute.

Miguel López-Botet is full professor in Immunology at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), where he has directed the Molecular Immunopathology Research Unit of the Experimental Sciences & Health Department (CEXS). He has a degree in Medicine from Universitat de Valencia, as well as PhD and specialization degree in Immunology from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro). After a postdoctoral training at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Lausanne, he was hired at Hospital Universitario de La Princesa (UAM), where he worked from 1985-2000 as an immunology consultant and tenured professor of Medicine.

In 2000 he was recruited by UPF where he was one of the founders of the Human Biology studies. Miguel López-Botet is a recognized researcher in the field of Immunology, where he has made significant contributions on the regulation of the innate immune response by Natural Killer cell receptors. He has published more than 120 original research works, some of which have been largely cited, supervising a substantial number of PhD theses.

Miguel López-Botet is among the most cited scientists in Spain in the field of biomedicine. His achievements in research management include acting as President of the Research Committee at the Hospital Universitario de la Princesa (1988-91 and 1996-98) and as Director of the Experimental Sciences & Health Department at the UPF (2002-04). Moreover, he has been President of the Spanish Immunology Society (2004-2008) and of the Society for Natural Immunity (2005-2008).