The goal of this program is to shed light on the molecular basis of diseases in order to prevent them as well as find new ways to treat them. The main scientific objectives in this area are:
- Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying macrophage and dendritic cell activation in both physiological and pathological conditions.
- The crosstalk between endothelial cells and leukocytes during the inflammatory response.
- Alterations in cellular energy metabolism in infections and diseases such as cancer, and study the signaling pathways involved to identify new drug targets.
- Measurement of essential parameters to understand the functioning of cells and tissues, as well as their malfunctioning upon deterioration processes associated with disease or age, using non-invasive intracellular silicon chips.
- Investigating cell adhesion, migration, and invasion in response to chemokines in both physiological and pathological conditions, and analyzing mechanisms of integrin function, especially during immune cell differentiation and the immune cell response in cancer.
- Examining the molecular basis of the complement system and its implication in kidney diseases.
- Drug discovery and medicinal chemistry approaches to identify new drugs for neurodegenerative and infectious diseases using computational chemistry, molecular modeling, and AI techniques.
- Understanding the molecular mechanisms of metastasis and resistance to cancer treatment.
- Rare diseases: disease mechanisms and new therapies.
- Development of recombinant vaccines based on a synthetic plasmid DNA against Leishmaniasis in dogs or SARS-CoV-2 in humans.
- Understanding the cellular and molecular basis of vascular dysfunction and remodeling and its interaction with the immune system, looking for new therapeutic targets and strategies for cardiopulmonary diseases.
- Studying how mitochondria interaction with other organelles shapes metabolism and lipid function in health and disease.