RUBÉN QUINTANA-CABRERA
PhD
Mitochondrial biology / Neurosciences
I’m a PhD in Neurosciences passionate about mitochondria. My work focuses
on understanding the biology of these small organelles, key for cellular respiration,
metabolism and energy production; in other words: the “powerhouse of the cell”.
This is why they are essential for cell survival, and why their dysfunction results in
a broad range of pahtologies.
To understand mitochondria, I study many aspects of their physiology: how they
respire, produce energy and free radicals, change shape, move…
The main goal of my research is searching for therapeutic
approaches to rescue mitochondrial and thus cellular
function, to prevent pathologies such as
cancer or neurodegeneration.
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publications
During my early MSc and PhD in Neurosciences in the lab of Prof. Juan P. Bolaños and Prof. Ángles Almeida (U. of Salamanca, Spain), we discovered and characterized the antioxidant capactity of the endogenous dipeptide γ-glutamylcysteine (the precursor of the antioxidant glutathione) targeted to mitochondria by means of gene therapy to confer neuroprotection.
After an internship in the U. of Geneva, (Switzerland), I have contributed during my postdoc in the lab of Prof. Luca Scorrano (U. of Padova, Italy) to identify the first evidences for a role of mitochondrial cristae in orchestrating respiratory supercomplexes assembly, bioenergetic homeostasis and oxidative stress to determine cell fate, among other insightful works. Currently, I am focused in understanding of exogenous mitochondrial acquisition and intercellular transfer in the remodeling of the endogenous mitochondrial content and respiratory metabolism in physiology and pathology.
April 19, 2012
siRNA knock down of glutamate dehydrogenase in astrocytes affects glutamate metabolism leading to extensive accumulation of the neuroactive amino acids glutamate and aspartate.
Skytt DM; Klawonn AM; Stridh MH; Pajecka K; Patruss Y; Quintana-Cabrera, R.; Bolaños JP; Schousboe A.; Waagepetersen HS.
Neurochemistry International. 2012.
September 25, 2013
Mitochondrial cristae shape determines respiratory chain supercomplexes assembly and respiratory efficiency.
Cogliati S.; Frezza C.; Soriano ME.; Varanita T.; Quintana-Cabrera R.; Corrado M.; Cipolat S., Costa V., Casarin A., Gomes LC., Perales-Clemente E.; Salviati L.; Fernandez-Silva P.; Enriquez JA.; Scorrano L.
Cell. 2013.
June 01, 2015
The Opa1-Dependent Mitochondrial Cristae Remodeling Pathway Controls Atrophic, Apoptotic, and Ischemic Tissue Damage
Varanita T., Soriano M.E., Romanello V., Zaglia T., Quintana-Cabrera R., Semenzato M., Menabò R., Costa V., Civiletto G., Pesce P., Viscomi C., Zeviani M., Di Lisa F., Mongillo M., Sandri M., Scorrano L.
Cell Metabolism. 2015
April 20, 2017
Who and how in the regulation of mitochondrial cristae shape and function.
Quintana-Cabrera R, Mehrotra A, Rigoni G, Soriano ME.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2017.
August 23, 2018
The cristae modulator Optic atrophy 1 requires mitochondrial ATP synthase oligomers to safeguard mitochondrial function
January 10, 2019
MFN2 mutations in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease alter mitochondria-associated ER membrane function but do not impair bioenergetics
Delfina Larrea, Marta Pera, Adriano Gonelli, Rubén Quintana-Cabrera, H Orhan Akman,Cristina Guardia-Laguarta, Kevin R Velasco, Estela Area-Gomez, Federica dal Bello, Diego De Stefani,
Rita Horvath, Michael E Shy, Eric A Schon, Marta Giacomello,
Human Molecular Genetics. 2019
August 19, 2019
Impaired Mitochondrial ATP Production Downregulates Wnt Signaling via ER Stress Induction
Costa R, Peruzzo R, Bachmann M, Montà GD, Vicario M, Santinon G, Mattarei A, Moro E, Quintana-Cabrera R, Scorrano L, Zeviani M, Vallese F, Zoratti M, Paradisi C, Argenton F, Brini M, Calì T, Dupont S, Szabò I, Leanza L. Cell Reports. 2019.
August 11, 2020
Inhibition of autophagy curtails visual loss in a model of autosomal dominant optic atrophy.
Zaninello M, Palikaras K, Naon D, Iwata K, Herkenne S, Quintana-Cabrera R, Semenzato M, Grespi F, Ross-Cisneros FN, Carelli V, Sadun AA, Tavernarakis N, Scorrano L. Nature Communications. 2020.
