Ricardo Marquez Gomez

Background

I studied Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology in Mexico and my research focused on finding novel GPCRs heterodimers in the striatum and their molecular fingerprint. This was done by chassical biochemical approaches (co-IP) from cells and brain tissue, and Functional Complementation Assays.

In 2019, I obtained funding from the Royal Society to join the Department of Pharmacology at University of Oxford as a Newton International Fellow to study how histamine regulates cortico-striatal striatal development at its relation with Tourette's syndrome. During this time I used optogentic and electrophysiology approaches to study early striatal development.

DAPG

I joined DPAG in 2021 as part of Wade-Martins group on a collaborative project with Astra Zeneca that aimed to test drug candidates to alleviate Parkinson's disease (PD). In this project I used high-throughput screening, CRISPRi technology and calcium release experiments in iPSCs Dopaminergic neurons. This project resulted in moving drug candidates into pre-clinical trials.

My current interest lays in developing technologies to generate neuronal microcircuits using human iPSCs cortical, straital and dopamine neurons. We have teamed with Researchers at Chemistry and Engineering to use 3D bioprinting and fluid walls microfluidics to form functional connections between hiPSCs neurons, that can recapitulate the circuitry affected in Parkinson's disease.

I am begining to explore the role of G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) in these circuits using electrophysiology, pharmacology (fluorescent ligands), molecular tools (CRISPR knock-in). GPCRs represent around 50% of drug targets in the current market and are the responsible for the actions of neurmoduators like dopamine and serotonin. As first point, we are looking at expresion and modulation of muscrininc receptors given their relevance for the study of PD.