Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
BACKGROUND
Jose Ramon Bayascas was born and educated in Barcelona, were he graduated in Biological Sciences from the University of Barcelona in 1992 and received a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences in 1998 under the supervision of Professor Emili Saló, University of Barcelona. He then carried out postdoctoral research for nine years, first with Professor Joan Comella at the University of Lleida from 1998 to 2002, and then with Professor Dario Alessi at the University of Dundee, Scotland, from 2002 to 2007, were he became proficient in the analysis of cell signaling in metabolism, cancer and neurobiology. In 2007 he joined the Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, were he has leadershipping a new Institut de Neurociencies research team ever since, first as a Ramon y Cajal Fellow and from October 2014 as a Serra Húnter Associate Professor. His current research aims to define the neurodevelopmental functions of the PDK1 signaling network and its consequences to neurodegenerative and mental illness.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
The research activity of our group aims to understand the importance that the dysfunction of the mechanisms of signal transduction might play in brain pathology. The group focussed on the PI 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathway, which controls essential roles during neuronal development and is deregulated in different mental disorders. We generated brain-specific conditional knock-in mice expressing two distinct rationally designed, crystal structure-based, point mutant forms of the PDK1 kinase, a master hub on this signaling pathway. In the PDK1 K465E mice, activation of Akt is selectively impaired, whereas in the PDK1 L155E mice, activation of most of the effectors of this signaling axis including S6K, RSK, SGK, and PKC, but not Akt, is abolished. These mice become instrumental to define the neurodevelopmental functions of the PDK1 signalling network and its consequences to neurodegenerative and mental disease.
MAIN RESEARCH LINES
1) To investigate whether the PDK1 K465E mice are protected from Alzheimer Disease. In the PDK1 K465E knock-in mice, reduced activation of Akt caused subtle morphogenetic defects that did not lead however to adverse behavioral outputs. We learned that the hypomorphic reduction of the Akt axis protected these mice from a number of insults disrupting homeostasis, which might singularly be also protected from neurodegeneration.
2) To define the contribution of the PDK1 substrates different from Akt to mental disease. In the PDK1 L155E mice, the normal and exclusive activation of Akt among the different PDK1 substrates caused profound defects in the patterning of the central nervous system, leading to severe mental disorders reminiscent of human schizophrenia.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Ph. D., Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
Award Date: 9 Jan 1998
Degree, Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
Award Date: 27 Jul 1992
External positions
Investigador Ramon y Cajal, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
4 Sept 2007 → 4 Sept 2012
Postdoc, University of Dundee
1 Oct 2002 → 31 Aug 2007
Postdoc, Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
1 Oct 1998 → 30 Sept 2002
Profesor Asociado, Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
1 Jan 1997 → 30 Sept 1998
Becario Predoctoral, Universitat de Barcelona (UB)
1 Jan 1993 → 31 Dec 1996
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
Assaig de l’inhibidor d’Akt MK-2206 pel tractament de la Malaltia d’Alzheimer
21/12/22 → 20/12/23
Project: Research Projects and Other Grants
-
IMPLICACION DE LA RUTA DE SEÑALIZACION PI3K/PDK1/AKT EN LA ENFERMEDAD DE ALZHEIMER ANALIZADA MEDIANTE RATONES KNOCK-IN PARA PDK1
1/01/19 → 31/12/22
Project: Research Projects and Other Grants
-
Participación de PDK1 en las respuestas a PI3K durante el desarrollo neuronal definida mediante el análisis de ratones knock-in de PDK1:implicación de patología mental
Bayascas Ramirez, J. R., Cordón Barris, L., Yang , S. & Zhou , X.
Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO)
1/01/15 → 30/09/18
Project: Research Projects and Other Grants
-
Contribución de la via PDK1 a la degeneración neuronal. caracterización de ratones knock-in condicionales de PDK1 específicos de sistema nervioso
Bayascas Ramirez, J. R., Cordón Barris, L., Ortega Salamanca, P., Zurashvili , T. & Zhou, X.
1/01/11 → 30/06/14
Project: Research Projects and Other Grants
-
Contribución de la vía de PDK1 a la supervicencia y diferenciación neuronales: caracterización de ratones knopck-in de PDK1 específicaos de neurona
16/10/07 → 30/12/10
Project: Research Projects and Other Grants
-
Capturing conformational transitions of full-length PDK1 that dictate kinase substrate selectivity
Martínez-Arenas, L. & Bayascas, J. R., 13 Jun 2023, In: Science Signaling. 16, 789, p. eadh5114 eadh5114.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
-
Acox2 is a regulator of lysine crotonylation that mediates hepatic metabolic homeostasis in mice
Zhang, Y., Chen, Y., Zhang, Z., Tao, X., Xu, S., Zhang, X., Zurashvili, T., Lu, Z., Bayascas, J. R., Jin, L., Zhao, J. & Zhou, X., 29 Mar 2022, In: Cell death and disease. 13, 3, p. 279 279.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access2 Citations (Scopus)2 Downloads (Pure) -
Burying and Burrowing Behavior in Male and Female Normal and 3xTg-AD Mice: A New Comprehensive Study Based on the Two-Zone Configuration.
Santana-Santana, M., Bayascas, J. R. & Giménez-Llort, L., 18 Nov 2022, (Unpublished) preprints.orgResearch output: Other contribution
-
Molecular Insights into the Regulation of 3-Phosphoinositide-Dependent Protein Kinase 1: Modeling the Interaction between the Kinase and the Pleckstrin Homology Domains
Garcia-Viloca, M., Bayascas, J. R., Lluch, J. M. & González-Lafont, À., 26 Jul 2022, In: ACS omega. 7, 29, p. 25186-25199 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus) -
The ERK5/NF-κB signaling pathway targets endometrial cancer proliferation and survival
Diéguez-Martínez, N., Espinosa-Gil, S., Yoldi, G., Megías-Roda, E., Bolinaga-Ayala, I., Viñas-Casas, M., Gorgisen, G., Domingo-Ortí, I., Pérez-Montoyo, H., Bayascas, J. R., Colas, E., Dolcet, X. & Lizcano de Vega, J. M., 19 Sept 2022, In: Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 79, 10, p. 524 20 p., 524.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus)