Dr. Alejandro Cruzhttps://gbmi.upc.edu/en/members/copy4_of_Aleksandra_Ivanovahttps://gbmi.upc.edu/++resource++plone-logo.svg
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Dr. Alejandro Cruz
Scientific profile
Dr. Alejandro Cruz possesses a solid background in fundamental sciences and molecular modelling, as endorsed by his double BSc in Physics and Chemistry at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and his MSc in Atomistic and Multiscale Computational Modeling in Physics, Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Barcelona. After obtaining his Ph.D. degree in computational chemistry by the Autonomous University of Barcelona, he has occupied different postdoctoral positions. Special mention should be made of his postdoctoral stay as a research associate at the Warshel Center for Multiscale Simulations (research group of the Noble Laureate Prof. Warshel). Currently, he is Associate Professor (tenure track) of Physical Chemistry at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia at the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB). His research can be divided into two main lines of research: 1) Role of Lipoxygenases (LOXs) and Cyclooxygenases (COXs) in Inflammation: Inflammation-related diseases account for more than 50% of all deaths, making essential a better understanding of the topic. LOXs and COXs play a key role in inflammation, since their metabolic pathways are related to the synthesis of lipid mediators that trigger and/or resolve this biological defense response. Dr Cruz possesses wide expertise in studying LOXs pathways, LOXs allosteric regulation and COX inhibition by photoswitchable compounds through quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations, Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations and docking calculations. 2) Allosteric and Orthosteric regulation of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs): GPCRs constitute one of the most prominent families of integral membrane receptor proteins that mediate most transmembrane signaling processes. Their malfunction is one of the underlying causes of many human pathologies, like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, provoking that GPCRs are the largest family of druggable proteins. This motivates Dr Cruz to investigate GPCRs signal transduction processes and their regulation by allosteric and orthosteric modulators.
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