Juana Díez Antón

Group website

Research Outline

Positive-strand RNA ((+)RNA) viruses are a major threat to human health. Because of their simplicity, they completely depend on the infected cell to multiply. The main research interest of my group is (i) to decipher key aspects of this intimate interaction for the emerging mosquito-transmitted Dengue virus (DENV), Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), Zika virus (ZIKV) and West Nile virus (WNV), and (ii) to identify novel broad-spectrum antiviral strategies by interfering with them.

 

Current Projects / Research Lines

  • Definition of viral and cellular translation landscapes throughout infection

A crucial aspect of the emerging mosquito-transmitted viruses is their ability to multiply and cycle between different host. How they efficiently adapt to the diverse requirements of human and mosquito cellular machineries and how they subvert the cellular machinery to their benefit remains unknown. We are combining basic and molecular biology with determination of transcriptome and translatome landscapes and network-based modeling to answer these crucial questions.

 

  • Development of broad-spectrum antivirals

There is an urgent need to develop efficient treatments against DENV, CHIKV, ZIKV and WNV infections. We have developed a novel RNA-based therapy to generate broad-spectrum antiviral treatments against DENV, CHIKV, ZIKV and WNV infection. Broad-spectrum antivirals arise as an extremely effective approach to treat these infections since they share initial symptoms, vectors and geographical distribution and an early diagnosis remains an unsolved challenge due to cross-reactivity problems.

 

Team during 2017-18

  • Postdocs: René Bötcher, Maria Eugenia Gas López, Jennifer Jungfleisch, Andrew MacRae, Gemma Vilaró Pérez
     
  • PhD students: Leire de Campos Mata, Marc Talló Parra

 

Selected publications 2017-18

  • Doñate-Macián P, Jungfleisch J, Pérez-Vilaró G, Rubio-Moscardo F, Perálvarez-Marín A, Diez J, Valverde MA (2018) The TRPV4 channel links calcium influx to DDX3X activity and viral infectivity. Nat Commun. 9(1):2307. IF 12,35; Q1.
  • Fernández-Carrillo C, Pérez-Vilaró G, Díez J, Pérez-Del-Pulgar S. (2018) Hepatitis C virus plays with fire and yet avoids getting burned. A review for clinicians on processing bodies and stress granules. Liver Int. 38(3):388-398. IF: 4,1, Q1.
  • Jungfleisch J, Nedialkova DD, Dotu I, Sloan KE, Martinez-Bosch N, Brüning L, Raineri E, Navarro P, Bohnsack MT, Leidel SA, Diez J. (2017) A novel translational control mechanism involving RNA structures within coding sequences. Genome Res 27(1): 95-106. IF: 11, 9; Q1.
  • Koutsoudakis G, Paris de León A, Herrera C, Dorner M, Pérez-Vilaró G, Lyonnais S, Grijalvo S, Eritja R, Meyerhans A, Mirambeau G, Díez J. (2017) Oligonucleotide-Lipid conjugates forming G-quadruplex structures are potent and pangenotypic Hepatitis C virus entry inhibidors in vitro and ex vivo. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 61(5). IF: 4,47; Q1.
  • Diez, J and Jungfleisch J. (2017) Translation control: Learning from viruses, again. RNA Biol, 14(7):835-837. IF 5,2; Q1.

 

Other relevant information 2017-18

Patents:

J. Diez and M. Talló are co-inventors of the patent application “Artificial circular RNAs for treating viral infections” (EP18383009). Filing date: 31.12.2018. Applicants: Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain).

 

Prizes:

J. Diez has been awarded as “Col·legiat d’Honor” by Col·legi de Biòlegs de Catalunya, 2018

2 selected Invitations as keynote speaker:

Spatial translational control of cellular and viral RNA translation. Annual Conference. Microbiology Society. Birmingham, UK (2018)

Host-directed broad-spectrum antivirals. Insights on Advance in Virology and Infectious diseases. London, UK (2017)

 

Invitations for research stays in other institutions:

Invitation from Dr. Peter Sarnow (the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University. 4 months.