Integrative Biology

Biography

Dr. Del Río Hernández obtained his PhD in Chemistry (best thesis award) from the Computense University in Madrid. Following this, he completed a period of postdoctoral training in the US. He worked at Columbia University of New York as a research fellow first, and as a Research Associate, later. He currently leads the Cellular and Molecular Biomechanics group in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London (http://biomechanicalregulation-lab.org). He is a European Research Council fellow and an Editorial Board member of several journals.

Research Interest

We combine nanotechnology, and celular & molecular biology tools with biophysical and bioengineering approaches to investigate how mechanical stimuli regulate the behavior of cells and molecules in physiological conditions and in cancer. Dr. del Río Hernández is a leader in the field of mechanobiology and has published numerous papers in high profile journals such as Science, PNAS, and the Journal of Molecular Biology. His pioneering research in the field of mechanotransduction showed how mechanical forces can unfold protein domains to expose cryptic sites and to trigger downstream signaling pathways. This research has been selected by Thomson Reuters as one of the most influencial in the field of biology and biochemistry.