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Principal Investigator
Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain
Disclosure(s): Gilead: Grant/Research Support
Dr. Zaragoza (degree in Biology, 1995) carried out his doctoral thesis with Juana María Gancedo (IIB, CSIC, 2000). At the same time, under the supervision of Dr. Carlos Gancedo, he began to investigate pathogenic fungi. He obtained his PhD degree in 2000. In 2001 he began his postdoctoral stage in the laboratory of Dr. Casadevall (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York), where he focused his work on fungal pathogenesis. In particular we investigated the virulence mechanisms of the facultative intracellular pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. During this period, he published more than thirty articles. In 20056 he joined the Mycology Service of the National Center for Microbiology of the Health Institute Carlos III (Madrid, Spain) in 2006.
His research is focused on several parallel lines. The first focuses on the mechanisms of adaptation of pathogenic fungi to the host, using the yeast Cryptococcus neoformans as a model and the role of titan cells in the virulence of this pathogen; the other line focuses on the mechanisms of action of antifungals, mainly amphotericin. B. Recently, we have identified off-patent drugs synergistic with amphotericin B, which opens the door to the design of new therapeutic strategies.Finally, his scientific activity also includes supporting the hospitals of the National Health System, as head of the Yeast Section of the Reference Laboratory and Research in Mycology of the National Center for Microbiology of the ISCIII.