Contact Information:
Date Joined Lab
January 2023
Background and Interests
José completed his undergraduate studies in Industrial Microbiology at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. During this time, he participated in NSF-REU summer programs at Ohio State University and the University of Connecticut where he gained experience in Microbiology and Neurobiology, respectively. These experiences bolstered his interest in biomedical research and decided to apply to the Pharmacology and Cancer Biology PhD program at Duke where he joined the Nackley Lab. His interests are in studying the mechanisms of chronic pain mediated by Adrenergic Receptor-beta3 (Adrb3), a receptor mostly expressed in adipose tissue. The lab previously demonstrated that Adrb3 is one of the drivers of deficient COMT-related chronic pain and his work will aim to generate a conditional knockout (cKO) of Adrb3 in adult COMT+/- mice to see if the deletion of Adrb3 is able to reverse pain. Before graduate school, José worked as a middle and high-school teacher in Puerto Rico, and after loving the experience he is aiming to pursue the academic route and become a professor.
José is an avid New York Yankees fan, and loves playing all kinds of sports including baseball, basketball, and rock climbing. He is also known for starting too many books at the same time and never finishing any and recently became plant-father of two Calatheas.
Publications
Scarneo S, Zhang X, Wang Y, Camacho-Domenech J, Ricano J, Hughes P, Haystead T, Nackley AG. Transforming Growth Factor-β-Activated Kinase 1 (TAK1) Mediates Chronic Pain and Cytokine Production in Mouse Models of Inflammatory, Neuropathic, and Primary Pain. J Pain. 2023 Apr 29:S1526-5900(23)00402-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2023.04.011. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37121498.