Xavier Altafaj

Xavier Altafaj is a Principal Investigator at the University of Barcelona in the Neuropharmacology and Pain Research Group. Xavier holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from the Centre of Medical and Molecular Genetics (Dr. Estivill's research program), and a degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Barcelona. After the obtention of the Ph.D. degree, Xavier joined the “Calcium channels and pathologies” laboratory (Dr. De Waard; INSERM, Grenoble) and the “Gene Therapy” laboratory (C. Fillat laboratory) at the Center for Genomic Research (CRG, Barcelona, Spain) for postdoctoral research.

Since 2011, Xavier is leading his research group, focused on the study of the physiology and pathophysiology of NMDA-type ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs). His research aims to contribute to unveiling the molecular and cellular mechanisms bridging the gap between glutamate receptor dysfunctions and neurological diseases, which will lead to the development of targeted therapeutic approaches. Xavier’s work helps to explain the molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity processes in post-synaptic glutamatergic neurons. Further, molecular insights are used to design targeted therapeutic approaches and to evaluate their efficacy to attenuate iGluR-mediated neuronal dysfunctions. Currently, the effort of his team and his basic and clinical collaborators is focused on GRIN-related disorders: from the functional annotation of GRIN variants to personalized therapies.