He has published six novels and is a member of a group of conservationists that established a Natural Reserve in the central part of the Chilean Biodiversity Hotspot.

He is a member of the board of directors of the non-profit Fundación Ciencia & Vida,[3] a scientific and technological institution with headquarters in Santiago, Chile.

He obtained his PhD in molecular biology at the Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Canada, in 1971, under the supervision of Dr. Louis Siminovitch.

In that year, while teaching a theoretical and laboratory course at the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology,[6] he introduced the technique of DNA cloning in Cuba, which led to the establishment of the first sugar cane gene library.

At the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto, his research advanced the understanding of the morphogenesis and structure of bacterial viruses (bacteriophages).