Professional Profile

Antonio Cuadrado, is full professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Department of Biochemistry, Medical School, Autonomous University of Madrid. He obtained his PhD degree in 1985 and enjoyed several postdoctoral stays in the National Cancer Institute-NIH with the help of Fulbright and Fogarty fellowships. He established his independent laboratory as Professor of Biochemistry in 1997 with a main interest on the study of molecular mechanisms involved in initiation and progression of neurodegenerative diseases.

For the past years his main lane of research has been the validation of transcription factor NRF2, master regulator of cellular homeostasis, with four main lines of activity:

i) The transcription factor NRF2 as a new therapeutic target in Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s diseases

ii) Role of oxidative stress in neuronal death and neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative diseases

iii) Pharmacological regulation of autophagy in the brain as a novel therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative proteinopathies.

iv) Development of new NRF2-modulating drugs.  

Dr. Cuadrado has been awarded several research projects funded by private, local, and governmental agencies to study the molecular basis of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. He has published over 130 primary and review articles, of which more than 60 are related to neuroprotection in preclinical models of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. He is grant and fellowship evaluation consultant for Spanish governmental and autonomic agencies. He is advisor of Aclipse One Inc. a subsidiary of Aclipse Therapeutics LLC in Delaware.

As a professor, Dr. Cuadrado has participated in multiple teaching activities for the Bachelor degrees of Biochemistry and Medicine, with special focus on research training.

More information at ResearchGate

Academic background

12-07-1985 PhD degree in Biology at Univ. Complutense de Madrid

01-06-1982 Bachelor's degree in Biology at Univ. Complutense Madrid

Professional background

2011-pressent Full professor at Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM)

1996-2011 Associate professor at UAM

1994-1996 Assistant professor (Ayudante L.R.U.) at UAM

1992-1994 Contracted researcher (reincorporation) IIBM-CSIC

1990-1992 Postdoctoral fellow (reincorporation) IIBM-CSIC

1988-1990 Fogarty postdoctoral fellow at National Cancer Institute-NIH (USA)

1986-1988 Fulbright postdoctoral fellow at Frederick Cancer research Facility-CRF (USA)

1985-1986 Postdoctoral fellow of CSIC at CIB-CSIC

1983-1986 PhD student (fellowship of Cajamadrid) at CIB-CSIC

Scientific indicators of productivity 

More than 130 peer reviewed articles in international journals

Indicators according to google scholar (October 2019):

• Total number of citations: 9773
• Citations in the last 5 years: 6014
• H index: 56
• H index of the last 5 years: 46
• 30 articles have received more than 100 citations

Teaching activities

Prof. Cuadrado has been participating in multiple academic activities of national and international level. Most of them have been performed at the Department of Biochemistry:

Bachelor degree in Biochemistry:

Metabolism and its Regulation. 3º course. 6 ECTS. Coordinator and professor.

Design and Execution of Scientific Projects. 4º course. 6 ECTS. Professor.

Experimental Work for End Degree. 4º course. 13 ECTS. Professor.

Bachelor degree in Medicine:

Initiation to Biomedical Research. 3º course. 6 ECTS. Professor.

Masters:

Master in Neuroscience. Course on "Molecular Bases of Neurodegeneration". 5 ECTS. Coordinator and professor

Master in Pharmacological Research. Course on "Therapeutic targets in Neuropharmacology".

Masters in Molecular Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Biomolecules and Cellular Dynamics. Course on "Critical analysis of scientific literature. Applied statistics for Molecular Biosciences"

Doctoral theses:

Finished doctoral theses:

• Papel de la vía de supervicencia PI3K/AKT en protección frente a estrés oxidativo y apoptosis inducida por neurotoxinas relacionadas con la enfermedad de Parkinson. Marta Salinas La Rosa. Madrid, 2003. Premio extraordinario de la Facultad de Medicina (UAM).
• Regulación de la proteína quinasa AKT/PKB y su efecto neuroprotector en presencia de estrés oxidativo. Daniel Martín Izquierdo. Madrid, 2003.
• La inhalación crónica de MPTP induce parkinsonismo y respuesta antioxidante en ratón. Papel de la vía PI3K/AKT en la regulación del enzima Cu/Zn-superóxido dismutasa. Ana Isabel Rojo Sanchís. Madrid, 2006.
• Regulación de la vía NRF2/HO-1 por receptores acoplados a proteínas G heterotriméricas y efecto farmacológico del ácido nordihidroguayarético. Relevancia en neuroprotección frente a estrés oxidativo. Sandra Espada Serrano. Madrid, 2010.
• Papel del factor de transcripción NRF2 en neuroinflamación y neurodegeneración en modelos experimentales de enfermedad de Parkinson. Madrid 2011. Premio extraordinario de la Real Academia de Medicina.
• Regulación del factor de transcripción NURR1 mediante cambios en su localización subcelular y su estabilidad por estrés oxidativo. Ángel Juan García Yagüe. Madrid, 2012.
• Regulation of transcription factor NRF2 by glycogen synthase kinase 3. Patricia Rada Llano. Madrid 2012. International mention. Premio extraordinario de la Facultad de Medicina (UAM). 
• Transcription factor NRF2 regulates the expression of autophagy genes. Marta Pajares Cabetas. Madrid, 2018. International mention. Premio extrordinarion de la Real Academia de Doctores de España.
• Orchestration of neural stem cell fate by NRF2 and TAZ. Madrid, 2019. Natalia Robledinos Antón. Madrid 2019.

Ongoing doctoral theses:

• Nuevos fármacos moduladores del factor de transcripción NRF2 y su validación preclínica en enfermedades crónicas. Raquel Fernández.
  
• Papel de NRF2 en la tumorigénesis de los gliomas y su valor como nueva diana terapeutica. Diego Lastra Martínez.

International academic activities

• 2016. Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Erasmus+ for academic staff.
  
• 2015. Training Course of COST action BM1203 EU-ROS. Organizer of course on “Training Course on Redox Biology in Health and Disease”, Alicante, Spain.
• 2015. Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. Erasmus+ for academic staff.
• 2014. School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. Erasmus+ for academic staff.
• 2014. Department of Biochemistry, Medical College, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN), León, Nicaragua. Course on “Integración y regulación metabólica. La adaptación al ayuno y al deporte”. Cooperación Agreement UAM/UNAN”
• 2012. Department of Biology, Faculty of Chemistry, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), México D.F. México. Organizer of the curse on “Estrategias de defensa antioxidante y anti-inflamatoria en enfermedades neurodegenerativas”
• 2010. State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology. Shanghai Medical College. Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Erasmus Mundus cooperation window for academic staff (lot14).
• 2009. Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland. Relevance of heme oxygenase-1 expression in attenuation of neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in an experimental model of Parkinson’s disease.

I have hosted in my laboratory undergraduate students of the Erasmus+, Leonardo Va Vinci and IAESTE programs, from Ireland, Germany and Poland, respectively. 

Prizes and recognitions

• 2019. Doctor Honoris Causa by Carold Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania
• 2017. Honorary Scientist at "Victor Babes National Institute of Pahtology" Bucharest, Romania.
• 2014. Testimonial of recognition by the Tohoku Medical Society. Sendai, Japan.
  
• 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. Prizes for the most relevant publications in the Department of Neurosciences of Instituto de Investigacion Sanitaria La Paz (IdiPAZ).

Member of scientific societies

• SENC: Sociedad Española de Neurociencia.
• ISN: International Society of Neurochemistry.
• ASBMB: American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
• GEIRLI: Grupo Español de Investigación en Radicales Libres

Member of editoral board

• Antioxidants. Open Access Journal. CiteScore 2018 (Scopus): 4.88, which equals rank 8/115 (Q1) in "Clinical Biochemistry", rank 19/167 (Q1) in "Physiology", rank 47/407 (Q1) in 'Biochemistry', 59/375 (Q2) in 'Molecular Biology' and 42/265 (Q1) in 'Cell Biology'.