After completing my bachelor’s degree in Biology and a master’s degree in cellular and molecular biology, I was awarded a fellowship to undertake a PhD degree at the University of Jaén (Spain) under the supervision of Dr Francisco Luque. In 2009, I completed my PhD in Biology with honours. My work was focused on eliminating the latent reservoir for HIV-1 in CD4+ T cells, as eradication of HIV-1 will require a method to eliminate this reservoir (Macias, D. et al., Hum Gen Ther 2009). After concluding my PhD, I decided to change the topic of my research and I initiated a distinctive and independent line of research, first in the laboratory of Prof. José López Barneo (Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla IBiS, 2009-2014) and then in the laboratory of Prof Randall Johnson (Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, 2014-2018). My line of research focused on how organisms respond and adapt to oxygen availability under normal and pathological conditions. In particular, I was interested in how hypoxia signalling pathway regulates the development and function of the carotid body, a peripheral chemoreceptor that controls respiratory and cardiovascular function in response to hypoxia. My studies were published in top journals for the field (EMBO Mol Med, 2014; J. Physiol, 2016 and eLife 2018 being co-corresponding author). In order to translate these findings to the clinic, I obtained funding from Peloton Therapeutics (343,092 GBP) with Dr Andrew Cowburn (Imperial College London). We showed that HIF-2a inhibition offered a beneficial effect in reverting most of the clinical parameters altered in an established preclinical model of pulmonary hypertension (Macías, D. et al., ERJ, 2020). My work was presented in multiple international conferences including oral presentations in the prestigious Keystone Symposia (Oxford, UK, 2018 and Keystone CO, US, 2020). Additionally, I was invited to participate as a speaker in 2 local symposia in Cambridge (UK), and give seminars in London (UK), Dresden (Germany) and Cádiz (Spain).
In June 2018, I joined the laboratory of Dr Muñoz-Espín at the Department of Oncology of the University of Cambridge. Since then, my research is focused on the role of cellular senescence in lung cancer. In particular, how senescent cells communicate with neighbouring cancer cells to promote tumour growth and relapse. My latest work has been deposited in bioRxiv 2022.08.01.502019; doi:10.1101/2022.08.01.502019 and it is currently under revision in Nature Cancer.
An important aspect of my scientific career is my ability to collaborate and interact with my colleagues helping them to achieve their goals while still delivering on my own projects. As a result, I was an essential collaborator in 16 articles (second author in 3 and third author in 7) published in very high-profile journals including 2 Nature, 2 Cancer cell, Cell Metabolism, Nature Metabolism, etc.
Besides my own research outputs, I have been committed to the supervision and mentoring of research students (4 undergraduate and 5 Master's students) as well. I have co-supervised a PhD student who passed her viva without corrections. Furthermore, I have been involved in the teaching in each of the departments I have been associated with. In 2020, I was awarded a MSCA-IF to return to IBiS at the laboratory of Dr Alberto Pascual. Recently, I was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Seville where I have initiated my own line of research after securing funding (around 500K EUR) from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Generación de conocimiento 2021 and Ayuda a la Consolidación Investigadora 2022) and Junta de Andalucía (Proyectos de Excelencia 2022) as principal investigator and also being awarded with the I3 certificate.
After completing my bachelor’s degree in Biology and a master’s degree in cellular and molecular biology, I was awarded a fellowship to undertake a PhD degree at the University of Jaén (Spain) under the supervision of Dr Francisco Luque. In 2009, I completed my PhD in Biology with honours. My work was focused on eliminating the latent reservoir for HIV-1 in CD4+ T cells, as eradication of HIV-1 will require a method to eliminate this reservoir (Macias, D. et al., Hum Gen Ther 2009). After concluding my PhD, I decided to change the topic of my research and I initiated a distinctive and independent line of research, first in the laboratory of Prof. José López Barneo (Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla IBiS, 2009-2014) and then in the laboratory of Prof Randall Johnson (Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, 2014-2018). My line of research focused on how organisms respond and adapt to oxygen availability under normal and pathological conditions. In particular, I was interested in how hypoxia signalling pathway regulates the development and function of the carotid body, a peripheral chemoreceptor that controls respiratory and cardiovascular function in response to hypoxia. My studies were published in top journals for the field (EMBO Mol Med, 2014; J. Physiol, 2016 and eLife 2018 being co-corresponding author). In order to translate these findings to the clinic, I obtained funding from Peloton Therapeutics (343,092 GBP) with Dr Andrew Cowburn (Imperial College London). We showed that HIF-2a inhibition offered a beneficial effect in reverting most of the clinical parameters altered in an established preclinical model of pulmonary hypertension (Macías, D. et al., ERJ, 2020). My work was presented in multiple international conferences including oral presentations in the prestigious Keystone Symposia (Oxford, UK, 2018 and Keystone CO, US, 2020). Additionally, I was invited to participate as a speaker in 2 local symposia in Cambridge (UK), and give seminars in London (UK), Dresden (Germany) and Cádiz (Spain).
In June 2018, I joined the laboratory of Dr Muñoz-Espín at the Department of Oncology of the University of Cambridge. Since then, my research is focused on the role of cellular senescence in lung cancer. In particular, how senescent cells communicate with neighbouring cancer cells to promote tumour growth and relapse. My latest work has been deposited in bioRxiv 2022.08.01.502019; doi:10.1101/2022.08.01.502019 and it is currently under revision in Nature Cancer.
An important aspect of my scientific career is my ability to collaborate and interact with my colleagues helping them to achieve their goals while still delivering on my own projects. As a result, I was an essential collaborator in 16 articles (second author in 3 and third author in 7) published in very high-profile journals including 2 Nature, 2 Cancer cell, Cell Metabolism, Nature Metabolism, etc.
Besides my own research outputs, I have been committed to the supervision and mentoring of research students (4 undergraduate and 5 Master's students) as well. I have co-supervised a PhD student who passed her viva without corrections. Furthermore, I have been involved in the teaching in each of the departments I have been associated with. In 2020, I was awarded a MSCA-IF to return to IBiS at the laboratory of Dr Alberto Pascual. Recently, I was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Seville where I have initiated my own line of research after securing funding (around 500K EUR) from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Generación de conocimiento 2021 and Ayuda a la Consolidación Investigadora 2022) and Junta de Andalucía (Proyectos de Excelencia 2022) as principal investigator and also being awarded with the I3 certificate.
