About
37
Publications
4,243
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
946
Citations
Introduction
Current institution
Additional affiliations
January 2013 - January 2022
Institute of Biology and Molecular Genetics
Position
- PostDoc Position
January 2022 - present
October 2009 - October 2012
Education
September 1993 - February 1998
September 1990 - June 1993
Publications
Publications (37)
Neurodegenerative diseases encompass a number of very heterogeneous disorders, primarily characterized by neuronal loss and a concomitant decline in neurological function. Examples of this type of clinical condition are Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Age has been identified as a maj...
Background
The mechanisms underlying the formation of complex structures such as during the outgrowth of the cochlear duct are still poorly understood.
Results
We have analyzed the morphological and molecular changes associated with cochlear development in mouse mutants for the transcription factor Meis2, which show defective coiling of the cochle...
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200210.].
Los métodos docentes generan incertidumbre acerca de su
aplicabilidad y eficacia.
OBJETIVO: Mejorar el conocimiento sobre métodos docentes
basado en la evidencia científica.
MATERIAL Y MÉTODO: Creación de un grupo de discusión.
El procedimiento de trabajo comprende la propuesta
y selección de temas a estudiar, la búsqueda e identificación de
estudi...
Hearing loss is the most prevalent sensorineural impairment in humans. Yet despite very active research, no effective therapy other than the cochlear implant has reached the clinic. Main reasons for this failure are the multifactorial nature of the disorder, its heterogeneity, and a late onset that hinders the identification of etiological factors....
The current COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the need for the development of new vaccines and drugs to combat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Recently, various drugs have been proposed as potentially effective against COVID-19, such as remdesivir, infliximab and imatinib. Natural plants have been used as an alternativ...
Meis genes have been shown to control essential processes during development of the central and peripheral nervous system. Here we have explored the roles of the Meis2 gene during vertebrate inner ear induction and the formation of the cochlea. Meis2 is expressed in several tissues required for inner ear induction and in non-sensory tissue of the c...
Disabling hearing loss is the most common sensorineural disability worldwide. It affects around 466 million people and its incidence is expected to rise to around 900 million people by 2050, according to World Health Organization estimates. Most cases of hearing impairment are due to the degeneration of hair cells (HCs) in the cochlea, mechano-rece...
Glial‐derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has been proposed as a potent neurotrophic factor with the potential to cure neurodegenerative diseases. In the cochlea, GDNF has been detected in auditory neurons and sensory receptor cells and its expression is upregulated upon trauma. Moreover, the application of GDNF in different animal models of deafnes...
Abstract Spread of antimicrobial resistance and shortage of novel antibiotics have led to an urgent need for new antibacterials. Although aminoglycoside antibiotics (AGs) are very potent anti-infectives, their use is largely restricted due to serious side-effects, mainly nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity. We evaluated the ototoxicity of various AGs se...
Hearing loss is the most common sensorineural disorder, affecting over 5% of the population worldwide. Its most frequent cause is the loss of hair cells (HCs), the mechanosensory receptors of the cochlea. HCs transduce incoming sounds into electrical signals that activate auditory neurons, which in turn send this information to the brain. Although...
Downregulated genes in fibroblasts transduced with GPA and treated with RA and EGF.
(XLSX)
Genes upregulated in fibroblasts transduced with GPA and treated with RA and EGF related to inner ear development and sensory perception of sound.
(XLSX)
Upregulated genes in fibroblasts transduced with GPA and treated with RA and EGF.
(XLSX)
Transcriptional regulatory networks are essential during the formation and differentiation of organs. The transcription factor N-myc is required for proper morphogenesis of the cochlea and to control correct patterning of the organ of Corti. We show here that the Otx2 gene, a mammalian orthologue of the Drosophila orthodenticle homeobox gene, is a...
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF, is one of the most important neurotrophic factors acting in the peripheral and central nervous system. In the auditory system its function was initially defined by using constitutive knockout mouse mutants and shown to be essential for survival of neurons and afferent innervation of hair cells in the periphe...
Aim:
Hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in humans, its main cause being the loss of cochlear hair cells. We studied the potential of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) to differentiate towards hair cells and auditory neurons.
Materials & methods:
hMSCs were first differentiated to neural progenitors and subsequently to hair cell-...
Fgf and Wnt signalling have been shown to be required for formation of the otic placode in vertebrates. Whereas several Fgfs including Fgf3, Fgf8 and Fgf10 have been shown to participate during early placode induction, Wnt signalling is required for specification and maintenance of the otic placode, and dorsal patterning of the otic vesicle. Howeve...
Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in humans. It is primarily due to the degeneration of highly specialised mechanosensory cells in the cochlea, the so-called hair cells. Hearing problems can also be caused or further aggravated by the death of auditory sensory neurons that convey the information from the hair cells to t...
Industrial overproducing strains present unique hosts for expression of heterologous gene clusters encoding secondary metabolite biosynthesis. For this purpose, efficient gene expression tools and methods are needed. A robust and versatile reporter system based on the rppA gene from Saccharopolyspora erythraea is presented as the method of choice w...
Notch signaling is central to vertebrate development, and analysis of Notch has provided important insights into pathogenetic mechanisms in the CNS and many other tissues. However, surprisingly little is known about the role of Notch in the development and pathology of Schwann cells and peripheral nerves. Using transgenic mice and cell cultures, we...
Cells that migrate away from a central tumour into brain tissue are responsible for inefficient glioblastoma treatment. This migratory behaviour depends partially on lysosomal cysteine cathepsins. Reportedly, the expression of cathepsins B, L and S gradually increases in the progression from benign astrocytoma to the malignant glioblastoma, althoug...
Cysteine cathepsins are lysosomal cysteine proteases that are involved in a number of important biological processes, including
intracellular protein turnover, propeptide and prohormone processing, apoptosis, bone remodelling, and reproduction. In cancer,
the cathepsins have been linked to extracellular matrix remodelling and to the promotion of tu...
The activity of a set of peptidases (proteases) involved in cancer progression is collectively known as the cancer 'degradome'. Invasion and metastasis were initially considered as late events in cancer development and the processes in which proteases were involved. However, recent studies indicate that invasion and metastasis are not late events,...
To isolate new zinc finger genes expressed at early stages of peripheral nerve development, we have used PCR to amplify conserved zinc finger sequences. RNA from rat embryonic day 12 and 13 sciatic nerves, a stage when nerves contain Schwann cell precursors, was used to identify several genes not previously described in Schwann cells. One of them,...
We investigated the role of Krox-20 (Egr2), a transcription factor that regulates myelination, in controlling the myelin-associated protein periaxin. In developing Schwann cells, periaxin immunoreactivity appeared at least 2 days before Krox-20-immunopositive nuclei. Consistent with this, in Krox-20 null mice periaxin was upregulated on schedule, a...
Rats harboring the agu mutation have altered behavior¹ and brain pathology¹ resembling human Parkinsonian syndromes²; notably, they have a movement disorder and age-progressive dysfunction and death of neurons in the midbrain (substantia nigra pars compacta) that use dopamine as a neurotransmitter. We present evidence that this phenotype is due to...
Questions
Questions (6)
Hello,
I am conducting MTT assays on various cancer cell lines. While I have no problems with any of the other lines, I have seen that a good number of the SH-SY5Y cells I plate for the assay (20000 cells per well in a 96-well plate) become detached when I change the medium to initiate treatment (at 24 h post-plating). I plate the cells in medium containing 10% FBS and treat them 24 h later in medium that does not contain any serum. Could anybody help me with this problem? Thank you very much!
Hi! I am preparing lentiviral stocks of pSIN-EF2-puro using a second-generation system (pMD2.G and pSPAX2) and it works fine. However, I am now wondering whether this is a third-generation transfer vector? Could somebody confirm this to me, please? I am checking the maps and it is not clear to me whether it's got an intact 5´LTR or not....
THANKS!!
Would it be impossible to silence one of these two myosins, following siRNA-treatment, against the other one?
I'm conducting tests to measure free radical formation (using H2DCFDA), following exposure of my cultures to various toxic compounds. Should I normalise the readings I obtain to those I got from MTT tests to measure cell viability of these cultures?
I am trying to set up some explants on collagen drops on glass coverslips, but these drops come off over time. Is there any protocol to ensure attachment of the collagen drop on the coverslip? Would I need to carry out coating of the coverslips with some solution prior to placing the collagen drops?
