Fernando Lopez Casillas

Biología Celular y del Desarrollo

fcasilla@ifc.unam.mx

202 Ote

Tel. +52 55 56225625

Intereses de Investigación

Our Research Is Framed Within The Major Question Of How Cells Respond To Extracellular Signals That Control Proliferation, Differentiation And Interaction With Neighboring Cells.
Otras actividades y distinciones
Miembro de la Academia Mexicana de Ciencias.
Miembro de la Sociedad Mexicana de Bioquímica.
Miembro de la American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Miembro de la International Society of Nephrology.

Trayectoria profesional

Investigador Titular C, SNI 2

Instituto de Fisiología Celular (desde 2006)

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Posdoctorados y estancias

Juan Carlos Izpizua-Belmonte (2006-2007)

Salk Institute, La Joya, California, USA

Joan Massague (1990-1994)

MSKKC, NYC

Formación académica

Purdue University Biochesmitry Program (1981-1988)

Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana., EUA

Médico Cirujano

Facultad de Medcina, UNAM, México

Líneas de Investigación

Betaglycan role in zebrafish embryonic development : Betaglycan, the TGFBR3, is a co-receptor that regulates the actions of diverse members of the TGF-beta family of cellular growth factors. We employ the zebrafish model to determine how TGFBR3 participates in the development of the many structures in which it is expressed. For that, we manipulate betaglycan gene expression using knock-down approaches (KD, using morpholino inhibition of the splicing of its pre-mRNA) and knock-out (KO, using CRISPR-Cas9 mutations of its gene) approaches. Our results indicate that TGFBR3 KD and KO are not equivalent, as it would be expected, with the earlier given severe lethal phenotypes and the later resulting in mild transient non-letal defects. This indicates that betaglycan functions are a lot more complicated and will be more challenging to decipher.

Betaglycan regulation of proliferation and migration in cancer cells. : Despite being considered a TGF-beta co-receptor, betaglycan also regulates the actions of other growth factors. This occurs via Smad canonical and non-canonical signaling pathways. We are particularly interested in determining how the glycosaminoglycan chains of TGFBR3 contribute to these processes.