Dr. Mabel Loza Garcia, Group Leader

Contact e-mail: mabel.loza@usc.es

Background: Ph.D. in Pharmacy for the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). Associate professor in Pharmacology at the USC, head of BioPharma research group. She has carried out several stays at the Departments of Physiology and Biophyics and the Department of Anaesthesiology of the Mount Sinai Medical Centre in New York, between 1992 and 1994. Has made several visits to various international institutions as invited lecturer.
Author of more than 75 articles published in SCI indexed journals, and more than 120 communications at congresses on pharmacology, medicinal chemistry and neuroscience. Mentor of 11 PhD theses. Has contributed to 60 peer-reviewed (45 as coordinator) research projects funded by private or public bodies, including the Foundation La Marató de TV3 (in collaboration with the Schizophrenia Foundation), the Galician Government, the Spanish Government, and the European Union (EU), and has been involved in collaborations with several pharmaceutical companies and biotechnological sector and with researcher leaders. In the last 5 years she has obtained funding for the research group of on average more than half a million Euros per year.
As entrepreneur she has set up two companies (Pharmatools Digital Interactive Services and Allelyus), created the USEF drug screening Platform, at the USC, and also heads in the R+D network for Medicines in Galicia. She has also been included within the international LOréal-Unesco “For Women in Science” programme, in the book entitled “Nosotras biocientíficas españolas” a compendium of women researchers in the Life Sciences in Spain, and she has been selected by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations as one of the 30 scientists from 30 countries in Europe within the “Portraits of Science-Scientists of Tomorrow” initiative.

Selected publications:

1. Zhubi A, Veldic M, Puri N.V, Kadriu B, Caruncho H, Loza I, Sershen H, Lajtha A, Smith R, Guidotti A, Davis J, Costa E. An upregulation of DNA-methyltransferase 1 and 3a expressed in telencephalic GABAergic neurons of schizophrenia patients is also detected in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Schizophrenia Resarch 2009;111(1-3):115-22.
2. Brea J, Castro M, Giraldo J, Lopez-Gimenez JF, Padin JF, Quintian F, Cadavid MI, Vilaro T, Mengod G, Berg KA, Clarke WP, Vilardaga JP, Milligan G, Loza MI. Evidence for distinct antagonist-revealed functional states of 5-HT2A receptor homodimers. Mol Pharmacol 2009; 75(6):1380-91.
3. Buceta M, Dominguez E, Castro MA, Brea JM, Alvarez D, Barcala J, Valdés L, Alvarez-Calderón P, Domínguez F, Vidal B, Díaz JL, Miralpeix M, Beleta J, Cadavid MI, Loza MI. A new Chemicals tool (C0036E08) supports the role of adenosine A2B receptors in mediating human mast cell activation. Biochemical Pharmacology 2008;76(7):912-21.
4. Aranda R, Villalba K, Raviña E, Masaguer CF, Brea J, Areias F, Domínguez E, Selent J, López L, Sanz F, Pastor M, Loza MI. Synthesis, Binding Affinity, and Molecular Docking Analysis of New Benzofuranone Derivatives as Potential Antipsychotics. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2008;51(19):6085-94.
5. Domínguez E, Loza MI, Padín F, Gesteira A, Paz E, Páramo M, Brenlla J, Pumar E, Iglesias F, Cibeira A, Castro M, Caruncho H, Carracedo A, Costas J. Extensive linkage disequilibrium mapping at HTR2A and DRD3 for schizophrenia susceptibility genes in the Galician population. Schizophrenia Research 2007;90(1-3):123-9.

Research group's website: http://www.usc.es/biofarma/