Paco Muñoz

Group website

Research Outline

Aging is the major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Aging is associated to the modification of the lipid membrane profile in neurons as well as to the increase in free radical production.  Our research focused on the modification of spine synaptic lipid composition and the consequences of nitro-oxidative stress in neurons during aging and in AD in vitro models.

 

Research Lines

  • Study of the effect of ganglioside GM1 in neurons.

We studied  the modification of GM1 in aging brain and the effects on glutamatergic signaling due to the alteration of NMDA receptors and spine growth.

  • Study of the effect of nitro-oxidative stress in neurons    

Study of the role of nitro-oxidative stress in BACE1 transcription, translation and expression in neurons. Nitric oxide is a physiological regulator of the glutamatergic signaling in the hippocampus and we also study the physiological effects of nitric oxide in neurons attending to spine growth and function.

 
 

Team during 2017-18

  • PhD students: Victoria Valls Comamala, Pol Picón Pagès.
     
  • Research visits:
    • Juan Godoy Zeballos (PhD student from Chile).
    • Daniela Gutierrez García (PhD student from Chile).
       

Selected publications 2017-18

  • Ortiz-Romero P, Borralleras C, Bosch-Morató M, Guivernau B, Albericio G, Muñoz FJ, Pérez-Jurado LA ,Campuzano V (2018) Epigallocatechin-3-gallate improves cardiac hypertrophy and short-term memory deficits in a Williams-Beuren syndrome mouse model. PLoS One. 13:e0194476.
  • Valls-Comamala V, Guivernau B, Bonet J, Puig M, Perálvarez-Marín A, Palomer E, Fernàndez-Busquets X, Altafaj X, Tajes M, Puig-Pijoan A, Vicente R, Oliva B, Muñoz FJ (2017) The antigen-binding fragment of human gamma immunoglobulin prevents amyloid β-peptide folding into β-sheet to form oligomers.  Oncotarget 8:41154-41165.
  • Núnez-Ollé M, Jung C, Terré B, Balsiger NA, Plata C, Roset R, Pardo-Pastor C, Garrido M, Rojas S, Alameda F, Lloreta J, Martín-Caballero J, Flores JM, Stracker TH, Valverde MA, Muñoz FJ*, Gil-Gómez G* *Co-senior (2017). Constitutive Cyclin O deficiency results in penetrant hydrocephalus, impaired growth and infertility. Oncotarget 8: 99261-99273.
  • Garcia-Garcia J, Valls-Comamala V, Andreu D, Muñoz FJ, Fernandez-Fuentes N, Oliva B (2017)  iFraG: a protein-protein interface prediction server based on sequence fragments. J Mol Biol. 429:382-389.