Affiliation: Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante

Fields or areas of research Neuroscience , Somatosensory Transduction , Pain

Born in Valencia in 1978, Dr. Francisco J Taberner received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Valencia. After the Ph.D., he started his research on somatosensation and pain at Universidad Miguel Hernandez. In Elche, he investigated the regulation of the cold and heat-sensing ion channels and its involvement in disease. Later, he moved to University Heidelberg and EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) to join the most renowned cluster on pain research in Germany. There, his research allowed the molecular and functional characterization of different sensory fibers such as those responsible for acute pain responses to pinprick or the "Silent nociceptors" that following inflammation relay mechanical pain. Additionally, his research focuses on understanding at the molecular level the determinants for the function of the Force-gated ion channel Piezo2. Currently, he has joined the Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante to continue his pain research focused on understanding and exploiting how some sensory modalities like cold influence pain processing at the spinal cord.