Raquel Pinacho
MSc, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
My research focuses on the study of the biological mechanisms underlying vulnerability to psychiatric disorders. I joined the Department of Pharmacology in 2016 to investigate the role of neural networks in complex emotional behaviours using pharmacogenetic tools.
In particular, I use pharmacogenetic techniques to understand how the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) affects emotional learning. The use of Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drug (DREADD) technology allows for a finer control of the activity of defined 5-HT circuits enabling a more in-depth study of how 5-HT modulates activity in the circuitry of the amygdala, a brain region that is crucial for aversive learning and encoding and retrieval of aversive memories.
The results from these studies are expected to provide new insights into how 5-HT modulates amygdala information processing and aversive learning, and how this contributes to the regulation of mood states and vulnerability to anxiety and depression.
I graduated with the equivalent of a master’s degree in Biology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, 2008). In 2009 I obtained an MSc in Neuroscience at the University of Barcelona, performing a research project on the role of transcription factors in psychotic disorders. After obtaining my PhD in Biomedicine by the University of Barcelona (2015), I took up a post-doctoral position in the University of Oxford (Wade-Martins group) until 2016 when I was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship and joined the Department of Pharmacology.
Key publications
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The transcription factor SP4 is reduced in postmortem cerebellum of bipolar disorder subjects: control by depolarization and lithium.
Journal article
Pinacho R. et al, (2011), Bipolar Disord, 13, 474 - 485
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Transcription factor Sp4 regulates expression of nervous wreck 2 to control NMDAR1 levels and dendrite patterning.
Journal article
Sun X. et al, (2015), Dev Neurobiol, 75, 93 - 108
Recent publications
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Differential regulation of the TLR4 signalling pathway in post-mortem prefrontal cortex and cerebellum in chronic schizophrenia: Relationship with SP transcription factors.
Journal article
MacDowell KS. et al, (2017), Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry, 79, 481 - 492
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Altered CSNK1E, FABP4 and NEFH protein levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia.
Journal article
Pinacho R. et al, (2016), Schizophr Res, 177, 88 - 97
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The glial phosphorylase of glycogen isoform is reduced in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in chronic schizophrenia.
Journal article
Pinacho R. et al, (2016), Schizophr Res, 177, 37 - 43
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Specificity proteins 1 and 4, hippocampal volume and first-episode psychosis.
Journal article
Fusté M. et al, (2016), Br J Psychiatry, 208, 591 - 592
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Transcription factor SP4 phosphorylation is altered in the postmortem cerebellum of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia subjects.
Journal article
Pinacho R. et al, (2015), Eur Neuropsychopharmacol, 25, 1650 - 1660
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Decrease in olfactory and taste receptor expression in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in chronic schizophrenia.
Journal article
Ansoleaga B. et al, (2015), J Psychiatr Res, 60, 109 - 116
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Phosphorylation of transcription factor specificity protein 4 is increased in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of first-episode psychosis.
Journal article
Pinacho R. et al, (2015), PLoS One, 10