Born in Carmona (Seville) in December 1929, Manuel Losada graduated in Pharmacy from the University of Madrid in 1952, gaining his doctorate some the same university four years later. After research grants with the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) in its Institute of Vegetable Physiology and Soil Science in Madrid, as well as in laboratories in Germany and Denmark, in 1959 he entered the University of California at Berkeley (USA) as a researcher, where he stayed until 1961. He is currently Professor of Vegetable Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Biology Faculty of the University of Seville.

He has published more than 200 original works of research in international periodicals and scientific books. He has been concerned with practical aspects of scientific research, especially with the conception and development of biological and biochemical systems capable of carrying out the effective transfer of solar energy into useful chemical energy, the use of microalgae to produce protein-rich biomass and other valuable compounds, matters which currently hold his interest. Nor has his teaching work, at all levels, been less productive, or the achievement of a perfect balance between teaching and research in the department where he has been director for more than 20 years, which constitutes another of the great merits of Professor Losada. The brilliance of his work has crystallised into the formation of the Institute of Vegetable Biochemistry and Photosynthesis, a joint CSIC- University of Seville, University-Level Centre.

Of his numerous prizes and distinctions we may single out the CSIC National Science Award (1965), the National Biological Research Award (1977), and the first "Rey Jaime I" Research Prize of the Valencian Regional Government (1990). More recently, in 1993, he was named a "favourite son" of Andalusia.