Albert Quintana is an Associate Professor of the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology. He earned a Bachelor in Science in Biology (Biomedicine) in 2001 and a PhD in Neuroscience in 2007, both from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. During his PhD focused on the role of cytokines in the development of neuropathology and neuroinflammation in traumatic brain injury. As a postdoc (2008-2013), he joined Dr. Richard Palmiter lab at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he was the lead scientist developing and characterizing a mouse model of mitochondrial disease (Leigh Syndrome). In 2013 he was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics (University of Washington) and group leader at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute. In 2015 he returned to the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona as a Ramón y Cajal investigator and ERC grantee (Starting Grant). His research focuses on using a multi-level approach and to develop new tools to identify the molecular determinants of neuronal susceptibility to mitochondrial disease. He has authored over 30 research articles and 2 book chapters.

Dr. Quintana leads the Mitochondrial Neuropathology research group and laboratory (Quintanalab).

Group members:

• Emma Puighermanal
• Elisenda Sanz
• Alex Gella
• Andrea Urpí
• Marta Luna
• Laura Cutando
• Melania Gonzàlez
• Laura Sánchez
• Adan Domíngez
• Mònica Girona
• Marcos Blanco
• Isabella Appiah
• Roser Bastida

COLLABORATIONS  

• Dr. Richard Palmiter, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and University of Washington, USA
• Dr. Nino Ramirez, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, USA
• Dr. Phil Morgan, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, USA
• Dr. Margaret Sedensky, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, USA
• Dr. Hugo Bellen, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Baylor College of Medicine, USA.
• Dr. Francois H. van der Westhuizen, North-West University, South Africa
• Dr. Iain L Campbell, University of Sydney, Australia

FEATURED ARTICLES:

• Cutando L, Puighermanal E, Castell L, Tarot P, Belle M, Bertaso F, Arango-Lievano M, Ango F, Rubinstein M, Quintana A, Chédotal A, Mameli M, Valjent E. Cerebellar dopamine D2 receptors regulate social behaviors. Nature Neuroscience. 25(7):900-911 (2022)
• Kevin Aguilar K, Comes G, Canal C, Quintana A, Sanz E, Hidalgo J. Microglial response promotes neurodegeneration in the Ndufs4 KO mouse model of Leigh syndrome. GLIA. 70(11):2032-2044. (2022).
• van de Wal M, Adjobo-Hermans M, Keijer J, Schirris T, Homberg J, Wieckowski MR, Grefte S, van Schothorst EM, van Karnebeek C, Quintana A, Werner JH Koopman. Ndufs4 knockout mouse models of Leigh syndrome: pathophysiology and intervention. Brain. 145(1):45-63 (2022)
• Luna-Sánchez M, Bianchi P, Quintana A. Mitochondria-Induced Immune Response as a Trigger for Neurodegeneration: A Pathogen from within. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(16), 8523; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22168523
• Puighermanal E, Castell L, Esteve-Codina A, Melser S, Kaganovsky K, Zussy C, Boubaker-Vitre J, Gut M, Rialle S, Kellendonk C, Sanz E, Quintana A, Marsicano G, Martin M, Rubinstein M, Girault JA, Ding JB, Valjent E. Functional and Molecular Heterogeneity of D2R Neurons Along Dorsal Ventral Axis in the Striatum. Nat Commun. 2020 Apr 23;11(1):1957. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15716-9.
• Gella A, Prada-Dacasa P, Carrascal M, Urpi A, González-Torres M, Abian J, Sanz E, Quintana A. Mitochondrial Proteome of Affected Glutamatergic Neurons in a Mouse Model of Leigh Syndrome. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Jul 28;8:660. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00660. eCollection 2020.
• Bolea I, Gella A, Sanz E, Prada-Dacasa P, Menardy F, Bard AM, Machuca-Márquez P, Eraso-Pichot A, Mòdol-Caballero G, Navarro X, Kalume F, Quintana A. 2019. Defined neuronal populations drive fatal phenotype in a mouse model of Leigh syndrome. Elife. 8. pii: e47163.
• Sanz E, Bean JC, Carey DP, Quintana A, McKnight GS. 2019. RiboTag: Ribosomal Tagging Strategy to Analyze Cell-Type-Specific mRNA Expression In Vivo. Curr  Protoc Neurosci. 88(1):e77.
• Liu L, Zhang K, Sandoval H, Yamamoto S, Jaiswal M, Sanz E, Li Z, Hui J, Graham BH, Quintana A, Bellen HJ. Glial lipid droplets and ROS induced by mitochondrial defects promote neurodegeneration. Cell. 160(1-2):177-90. (2015)
• Johnson SC, Yanos ME, Kayser EB, Quintana A, Sangesland M, Castanza A, Uhde L, Hui J, Wall VZ, Gagnidze A, Oh K, Wasko BM, Ramos FJ, Palmiter RD, Rabinovitch PS, Morgan PG, Sedensky MM, Kaeberlein M. mTOR inhibition alleviates mitochondrial disease in a mouse model of Leigh syndrome. Science. 342(6165):1524-8 (2013) Featured in Science Express in Science and Nature Medicine

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