The Center was created in 2000 with the main purpose of fostering research activities and scientific training in basic areas of cellular and molecular biology directly related to biomedicine. Its physical location, research program projects and academic activities promote cooperation and interaction among scientists and students of the Center and the Faculties of Biological Sciences and of Medicine, thus gathering the collaborative efforts of cell biologists, neurobiologists, pharmacologists, developmental biologists and physicians. Our Research Program Projects are mainly focused on the organization and dynamic composition of the cell surface and on the cellular machinery that interprets external stimuli. Detailed understanding of these processes and their disfunctions leading to disease is now a central requirement in biomedical science. We integrate basic and applied cellular and molecular biology approaches attempting to understand devastating chronic ailments, such as neurodegerative disorders, cancer and fibrosis. Our research could provide clues to design better therapies against these diseases, aiming to arrest or slow their progression.
