Victor Lopez del Amo

The Lopez del Amo laboratory research program presents two different research lines: 1. Investigating CRISPR-based technologies for population control: We develop and test new forms of CRISPR-based genome editing approaches to control mosquito populations and potentially reduce the burden of vector-borne diseases such as malaria. We employ Drosophila melanogaster (as a model) and different mosquito species such as the Anopheles malaria mosquito. 2. Developing human disease models for biomarker investigation and drug discovery: We study rare neurodegenerative diseases such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth associated with GDAP1 mutations. We use Drosophila and cell culture to create models that can mimic the patient's clinical symptoms. Our animal and cell culture models represent an excellent research platform to decipher molecular pathways that are altered due to gene mutations, allowing us to investigate potential molecular pathways for drug discovery.