ISSN: 2578-6490
Professor
Department of Animal Biology
University of La Laguna
Spain
Tel: 34-922318343/42
In 1990, Dr Díaz completed his doctorate on endocrine regulation of plasma membrane electrolyte transport in extrarenal epithelia. After his doctorate, he moved to the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetic Research in Cambridge as a postdoc to study mechanistic properties of different anion and cation channels involved in regulatory volume decrease. This research using patch-clamp and molecular biology techniques led to the functional association between volume-activated chloride channels and multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein (MDR). For these studies, in 1994 he was promoted to Senior Scientific Officer for the Cancer Research Campaign in Oxford. Back in Spain in 1994, he established the Laboratory of Membrane Physiology and Biophysics at the University of La Laguna in Spain. Since then, his group has studied different ion conductance’s, electrolyte and nutrient transporters, plasmalemmal ATPases and membrane receptors for neurotransmitters and hormones, including unexpected plasma membrane steroid receptors. One main interest of his laboratory are the (patho-) physiological roles and signaling mechanisms initiated by estrogens at the plasma membrane, which have been associated with neuroprotection. During these last few years, his laboratory has focused on the analysis of cell membrane lipids, particularly in lipid rafts microdomains from nerve cells, and their relation to protein functionality and lipid-protein interactions, emphasizing on neurodegenerative diseases. In January 2010, he became a full professor of Animal Physiology. Dr. Diaz is a member of different Scientific Societies, including the Spanish Physiological Society (SECF), where he was appointed for the Steering Committee until 2015. Since then, he has been a member of the board of the Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health in the Canary Islands (Spain), as well as the director of the lipidomic analyses unit in La Laguna University. At present, he is the Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Membrane Physiology and Biophysics. In the last years, his main research interest is focused on the involvement of membrane microdomains in neurodegeneratives diseases, also the potential neuroprotective strategies based on hormonal-nutraceutical approaches.
