Description of Hosting Institution (UJA – Spain)

Jaén University (UJA) was created in 1993 and is in the Top 50 of the world’s best young universities according to THE (Times Higher Education). This ranking analyzes aspects such as teaching, research work, the university’s international outreach, or integration into industry. Besides, the UJA has received the distinction of Campus of International Excellence in the fields of Agrifood (CEIA3) and Climate Change (CamBio), plus it also leads the Andalusian CEI project on historical heritage PatrimoniUN10.

Jaén University has five faculties (Social and Legal Sciences; Humanities and Education Sciences; Health Sciences; Experimental Sciences and Social Work) and two higher polytechnic schools for engineering (Linares and Jaén). In turn, these centers are organized into 35 departments. It also has three Postgraduate educational centers (Doctorate School, Advanced Study Center in Modern Languages and Postgraduate Study Center).

In regards to its research, there are five specialized centers at Jaén University. Besides, the full picture of the over 100 UJA groups covers the following research fields of expertise (https://www.ujaen.es/servicios/ofipi/uja-ri-expertise): Agrifood (AGR); Biology (BIO); Health (CTS); Social Sciences, Business, Law (SEJ); Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics (FQM); Humanities (HUM); Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (RNM); Information and Communications Technology (TIC); and Engineering Production Technology (TEP).

As far the UJA hosting offer is concerned, Prof. MARÍA ÁNGELES PEINADO HERREROS (apeinado@ujaen.es) would be willing to host post-doctoral researchers that are eventually funded through the H2020 MSCA-IF 2019 call for applications to be part of the following research team:

UJA hosting research group (https://bit.ly/2JD7nxu)

The BIO-184 is a research group integrated by reseachers and doctoral students from the University of Jaén and from the Hospital “Ciudad de Jaén”.

Our reseach deal with geroscience, and is centred on the molecular and celular basis of some age-related pathologies particularly in the field of the hypoxic diseases. We use histological, biochemical and omic approaches to search for possible therapeutic targets. We are interested in antioxidants and neuroprotective drugs in order to reveal a possible protective role in proteostasis and oxidative/nitrosative balances as important hallmarks of physiological and pathological aging. We used mainly cell cultures and animals model in our experimental designs but also we have facilities for clinical trials.

We have microscopy, biochemistry and molecular equipped laboratories at the Department of Experimental Biology. In addition, we also have a P2-3 Animal Centre (CPEA) as well as a Central Service with electron and confocal microscopy, proteomic, genomic and cell culture facilities.

Our scientific production and an abstract of our scientific career since the 90s in our WEB page: (http://www.ujaen.es/dep/bioexp/bcelular/indice.html).

There is a senior and a junior staff, and PhD students from abroad (Argentine, Colombia, etc.).

We have participated in several competitive research projects from the Spanish and Regional Governments. Now we want to reinforce our international position and our links with other European institutions.

Project description

Main goal:

Searching for a new pharmacological therapy against stroke-derived damage, effective in adult and aged individuals, and based on the neuroprotective role of neuroglobin (Ngb). In addition, the project will try to shed light on the molecular processes that underlie the molecular mechanism of action of Ngb and its relation to aging.

Specifics objectives:

• To develop a pharmacological treatment against stroke based on the neuroprotective properties of neuroglobin using nanocarriers to increase the bioavailability of Ngb in the infarcted area
• To evaluate the neuroprotective effectiveness of the selected pharmacological systems during aging.
• To analyse the molecular mechanisms involved in the neuroprotective action of the pharmacological treatment.

This proposal will provide important advance for a forthcoming clinical application in supporting patients suffering from stroke.

Application procedure

CV, Motivation letter and Summary of project proposal (250 words) by 14th June 2019 to ofipi@ujaen.es. Further information regarding the application requirements can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/individual-fellowships_en & https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/msca-if-2019.