Institut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona (CSIC - IBMB)
Life & Medical Sciences
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Research interests
During animal development, the differentiation of cells, tissues and organs is tightly regulated through specific gene expression programs. Our research addresses the transcriptional and cell signaling mechanisms responsible for this control. Most of our work uses the fruit fly, Drosophila, which allows us to combine classical genetic, cell biological and biochemical approaches with genome-editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9. One main line of research focuses on Ras-Erk signaling and its downstream effector Capicua (Cic), an evolutionarily conserved transcriptional repressor with key roles in normal development and human diseases. We discovered this factor in Drosophila and are studying its function from different perspectives, including the analysis of its basic mechanism of repression and its interaction with Erk signaling and other signal transduction pathways. In addition, we have a long-term interest in transcriptional corepressors such as the conserved Groucho/TLE and Atrophin proteins, which we are analyzing from a functional and mechanistic point of view. Ultimately, our studies are aimed at defining basic cell biological mechanisms that are relevant to human disorders.
