Researcher published article in prestigious journal Nature Communications together with academics from Belgium

05-14-2019

Dr. Diego Rojas Rivera, from the Center for Integrative Biology U. Mayor, recently published an article describing the complexity of the mechanisms of regulation of cell death, it could impact on different anti-inflammatory therapies.

A pioneering research team in Chile, formed at the eaves of the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB) of the Universidad Mayor, is beginning to see its first results.

In this case, we refer to Dr. Diego Rojas Rivera, who recently participated with the Inflammation Research Center of the University of Ghent (Belgium), in the development of an article that was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications and describes mechanisms of regulation of cell death under a context of inflammation.

This is part of a series of articles that Dr. Rojas has published in collaboration with the group of Belgian scientists in prestigious journals such as Nature Cell Biology or Cell Death Differentation.

Rojas is currently leading a Fondecyt Initiation project, which allows him to continue studying new mechanisms of regulation of cell death, such as the role of some genes that regulate autophagy, a process from which the cell uses its own material to generate energy. As he explains, investigating this topic will help to understand better how cell death is regulated under pro-inflammatory conditions and could be useful in various therapies associated with inflammation.

Although, for now, it does not have a pathological model to describe how these processes are regulated, research could have an impact on the therapeutic use of stem cells in any type of disease.

On the other hand, the researcher collaborates with Dr. Ute Woehlbier, researcher of the CIB, implementing and reproducing all the techniques with which he worked in Belgium.

"We will have the ability to measure in real time how cells die, see if they die by apoptosis or necroptosis, which will allow us to contribute in a relatively new area of ​​study, since the first contributions on necroptosis were made 12 years ago, "he says.

It should be noted that Nature Communications is an open access publication that deals with topics in the field of natural sciences, including physics, chemistry, earth sciences and biology.