Professor Olga Martínez Augustin, from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2 at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF) in 2020 at this University. Please note that applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (more information: http://sl.ugr.es/0aNV).

Brief description of the institution:

The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. The UGR has been awarded with the "Human Resources Excellence in Research (HRS4R)", which reflects the UGR’s commitment to continuously improve its human resource policies in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The UGR is also a leading institution in research, located in the top 5/10 of Spanish universities by a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, or international funding.

UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking (http://sl.ugr.es/0aw0). The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) places the UGR in 268th position in the world and as the 4th highest ranked University in Spain, reaffirming its position as an institution at the forefront of national and international research. From the perspective of specialist areas in the ARWU rankings, the UGR is outstanding in Documentation (ranked in the 36th in the world) or Food science technology (ranked 37th in the world), Mathematics and Computer Science (ranked among the top 76-100 in the world).

The UGR has 4 researchers at the top of the Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) list in the Computer Science area. With regard to broader subject fields, the UGR is ranked in 45th position in the universities worldwide in the discipline of Engineering. It is also well recognized for its web presence (http://sl.ugr.es/0a6i) taking 36th place in the top 200 Universities in Europe. Internationally, we bet decidedly by our participation in the calls of the Framework Programme of the European Union. For the duration of the last two Framework Programmes, the UGR has obtained a total of 66 projects, with total funding of 18.02 million euros, and for H2020, 80 projects with total funding around 20.6 million euros.

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group

Our research group works in the field of pathophysiology (ion transport, alkaline phosphatase, inflammatory markers) and pharmacology (flavonoids, glycomacropeptide, oligosaccharides, bisphosphonates, corticosteroids) of inflammatory bowel disease and obesity/metabolic syndrome. Central to both is an alteration of the function of intestinal barrier, a fundamental element of intestinal homeostasis involved in inflammatory processes such as inflammatory bowel disease, but also many other intestinal and systemic diseases, including metabolic syndrome, acute pancreatitis, liver disease, sepsis, etc.

We use various cellular models, including intestinal organoids, and animal models, such as KO mice for the intestinal epithelial glucocorticoid receptor Nr3c1 (developed by our group), haplodeficient mice for tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (Alpl), immunodeficient mice Zucker rats, etc. The experimental techniques used include molecular techniques, FACS, immunohistochemistry, gene silencing, studies of electrolytic transport, metagenomics of fecal microbiota, pharmacogenomics, etc.

We have received about 650,000 € in the last 5 years, coming mainly from competitive public projects but also from contracts with companies and projects financed by foundations. Our group is a member of the Center for Biomedical Research in the Liver and Digestive Diseases Network (CIBERehd), which brings together the most prestigious groups active in the research of gastroenterology in Spain. Our publications profile is available at https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=Y0GzurEAAAAJ&hl=en

Project description

This project focuses on the study of the role of tissue non-specific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) on immunity and metabolism, and on the molecular bases involved, in order to define its role as a nutritional and therapeutic target. TNAP is expressed in a multitude of tissues and cell types as well as breast milk. We have recently described that the expression of this enzyme is important for the correct functioning of the immune system. Furthermore, our unpublished experiments indicate that animals heterozygous for this enzyme have a tendency to develop fatty liver. Our working hypothesis is that TNAP has an important function in the purinergic system, regulating the ATP / adenosine ratio, thus modifying signal transduction pathways involved in the immune response and metabolism. Furthermore, due to its ability to dephosphorylate bacterial antigens, TNAP could regulate the microbiota.

Objectives: (1) To study the involvement of TNAP in the development of lipid-mediated hepatic steatosis, using a metabolic syndrome model .(2) To examine the role of TNAP in function of intestinal barrier in inflammation, using a model of colitis induced by dextran sulfate and another of systemic inflammation by LPS. (3) To analyze the relationship between TNAP and the purinergic system and its influence on hepatic steatosis and inflammation. (4) To characterize the presence of alkaline phosphatase in faeces of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

We have established a collaboration Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (La Jolla, USA) and other European groups. In addition, we will use heterozygous mice (TNAP +/-) and mice developed in our laboratory, in which we are deleting specifically in intestinal epithelial cells the gene that codes for this enzyme.

Research Area

Life Sciences (LIFE)

For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor Olga Martínez Augustin (omartine@ugr.es):

• CV
• Letter of recommendation (optional)