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During 10 years of research my main aim has always been the study of addictive disorders. I did my PhD under the supervision of Dr. Granero and Dr. Polache in University of Valencia (Spain). In fact, those five years I studied the role played by ethanol metabolites in the events occurred in ethanol addiction. As result, Salsolinol was recognised to participate in ethanol neurobiological effects through agonising Mu Opioid Receptors. Those discoveries have been used to develop a new pharmacological treatment for alcohol relapse based on D-penicillamine. This compound captures acetaldehyde, which prevents Salsolinol formation. Furthermore, during my PhD I did two stays: 6 months in the University of Cambridge (UK) and 2 months in UMDNJ (USA). The work carried out in both stays was published on international journals. It is important to highlight that I acquired knowledge in experimental psychology in the University of Cambridge under JW Dalley and TW Robbins supervision. This fact made me think of pain as a risk factor towards alcohol addiction.
Finally, I did my post-doctoral stage in Columbia University (USA) under Dr. Morón supervision. There, I worked on several projects focused on opioid addiction, neurobiological mechanisms that underlie Mu Opioid Receptor tolerance and inflammatory pain neurobiology. Thereby, I performed experiments that show how pain alters heroin consumption patterns through modifications in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine transmission. This study was published in Journal of Neuroscience and was selected for a press conference after being showed in the Society For Neuroscience congress, 2013. Moreover, during this period I had the chance to collaborate in other projects that also ended with publications in international journals. One of them, published in Pain, shows how low doses of a NMDA receptor agonist in combination with a potassium channel opener is a good new therapeutic strategy. In fact, this research emerged to the media.
This career path has led me to combine several aspects of my work in both, the pre-doctoral and post-doctoral stages, which resulted in my current research project as a Principal Investigator. I am studying how the presence of pain increases vulnerability towards alcohol abuse and relapse. This work is being carried out by DOREAL Laboratory in University of Valencia (Spain) where I have been working since 2014.
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