Mechanoadaptation and Caveolae Biology

Miguel Ángel del Pozo graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the Universidad de Valladolid in 1991, and then pursued a research career while specialising in Immunology at the Hospital de la Princesa in Madrid (1995). The subject of his PhD thesis (Department of Biochemistry, UAM, 1997) was the function of adhesion receptors and chemokines in cell polarization and leukocyte migration in inflammation. During his postdoc tenure in the laboratory of Martin Schwartz (The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, 1998-2002) he contributed to the elucidation of the role of Rho-family GTPases in the regulation of intracellular signals by integrins, growth factors and mechanical stimuli. He later started his own group as Assistant Professor at Scripps, focusing on integrin signaling and plasma membrane heterogeneity in anchorage-dependent growth. He moved to the CNIC as Assistant Professor in 2004. His group studies the role of integrins, caveolin and Rho/Rac GTPases in mechanotransduction, membrane trafficking, cell migration and cell growth. In 2004 he received the EURYI (European Young Investigator) Award in Biomedicine (predecessor of the ERC Starting Grant), and in 2005 was elected by EMBO as member of the Young Investigator Programme (EMBO YIP). He gained an “Investigador Científico” (Senior Tenured Scientist) position at the CSIC in 2005. In 2006 Dr Del Pozo was promoted to Associate Professor, and to Full Professor in 2010. From 2007 till 2010 he was the Head of the Vascular Biology and Inflammation Department at the CNIC. In 2007 the SEBBM (Spanish Association for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) awarded him the “Beckman Coulter Prize” for researchers under the age of 40, and in May 2012 he received the "Health Sciences Award" from the Caja Rural de Granada Foundation (VIII edition) and the "Carmen and Severo Ochoa" Award for Research in Molecular Biology (XVIII edition).

Since 2015 he is Full Professor II. He served as Coordinator of the Cell & Developmental Biology Area (2014-2020). In 2021 he was elected as EMBO Member and Member of Faculty Opinions (Cardiovascular Physiology and Circulation section). In 2022 he has been named a Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Fundación GADEA por la Ciencia (CCA-FGC) in the Medical Sciences-Preclinical area. His 146 scientific publications have been cited 10.959 times thus far, with an H index of 59 (WoS data, updated December 12th 2022), being the 8th Spaniard more cited in Cell Biology.

Academic Positions

• June 2015-to date: Full Professor II, Mechanoadaptation & Caveolae Biology Lab, (till 2020 in the Cell & Developmental Biol. Area, CNIC; since 2021 Member of the Atherosclerosis Program)
• Dec 2014-March 2020: Coordinator, Cell & Developmental Biol. Area, CNIC (& Cell Biol. & Physiol. Program)
• Apr 2010- May 2015: Full Professor I, Integrin Signaling Lab, VBI Dept., CNIC
• Dec 2006-March 2010: Head of the Department of Vascular Biology and Inflammation, CNIC
• March 2006-Apr 2010: Associate Professor, Integrin Signaling Lab, Vascular Biology and Inflammation (VBI) Dept., CNIC
• June 2006-to date: Associate Professor (Investigador Científico) CSIC, (currently on voluntary leave of absence).
• Jun 2004-March 2006: Assistant Professor, Integrin Signaling Lab, CNIC
• Aug 02-June 04: Assistant Professor. Depts. Immunology & Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA.