Cardiovascular Proteomics

Dr. Jesús Vázquez graduated in Physical Chemistry at the Universidad Complutense (Madrid, 1982) and carried out his PhD in Biochemistry at the Universidad Autónoma (Madrid, 1986), both with Special Distinction. During his postdoctoral training at Merck Sharp Research Laboratories (NJ, USA) and at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (Madrid), he specialized in protein chemistry and in the study of biomembranes in the context of neurochemical diseases. Since then, he has played a pioneering role in the development of protein chemistry, mass spectrometry and proteomics in Spain. He is Profesor de Investigación del CSIC and joined the CNIC (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, Madrid) as a Full Professor in 2011, where he leads the Cardiovascular Proteomics laboratory and is in charge of the Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit.

His group works on the development of high-throughput quantitative approaches for the dynamic analysis of the deep proteome, which are being applied to basic and translational projects in the cardiovascular field. They are developing novel bioinformatics algorithms for the analysis of very large numbers of samples, including protein identification and systems biology interpretation of quantitative data and for the study of posttranslational modifications (PTM).

They have developed a novel data-independent mass spectrometry scanning technique (DiS) that improves on the performance of conventional shotgun approaches and also allows in-silico-targeted quantification of any suspected peptide, including PTMs. They are using an extension of this technique (Blue-DiS) to generate an extremely detailed structural map of components of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation supercomplexes in several models, which include characterization of novel factors and PTMs that modulate complex and supercomplex assembly.

They are also performing translational studies in large cohorts of human samples to uncover molecular mechanisms and biomarkers of cardiovascular disease. They are studying the spatial proteome alterations taking place during the early development of the atherosclerotic plaque, and the plasma proteome from participants in the PESA study. They have identified a set of biomarkers that predict the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis in plasma, which we are validating in large human cohorts, and are protected by a patent in process of exploitation by a private company in several countries throughout the world.

Finally, they have developed a novel technology for the untargeted analysis and quantification of all posttranslational modifications (PTM) detectable by mass spectrometry. They are applying this technology to characterize the dynamic PTM landscape of human arterial lessions and plasma in the context of subclinical atherosclerosis and aortic aneurisms. The group is currently involved in the development of ultra-high sensitive approaches for the analysis of isolated cell populations.

J.Vázquez has published more than 250 international, peer-reviewed publications that have been received more than 1.000 citations per year, and as an H-index of 54.