Rubèn López Vales is Full Professor of the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology, and Immunology and Institute of Neurosciences at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Universitat de Girona in 2001 and received his PhD in Neuroscience from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2005. He performed a postdoctoral stage at McGill University in Canada (2006-2009) and returned to Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona in 2009 as tenure-track lecturer in the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology. In 2014, he obtained an associate professor position at UAB and finally promoted to full professor in 2019. He is also affiliated to CIBERNED and RICORS research networks

Research interests

The overarching goal of his research is to study the contribution of inflammation to neural degeneration after spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In particular, his research is focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms that mediate the detrimental aspects of macrophage and microglia activation, as well as, on understanding the mechanisms that hampers the resolution of inflammation in neurological disorders.  His aim hypothesis is that neurological conditions share specific harmful inflammatory pathways and thus, modulation of such pathways  may lead to a new avenue for the development of novel and more efficient therapeutic treatments. His research is therefore in the interface between restorative neuroscience and immunology.

Keywords

Spinal Cord Injury, Inflammation, Neuroprotection, Multiple Sclerosis, Cytokines