PhD Student
Emmanuel is a Ph.D. student in the David Rockefeller Graduate Program in Bioscience. Originally from Cancun, Mexico, he earned his B.Sc. in Biomedical Science and his M.Sc. in Biochemistry, both with honors, from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where he studied the regulation of free fatty acid receptor 1 and 4 (FFAR1 and FFAR4) signaling. As a research assistant at NYU’s Pain Research Center, he studied the signaling of G protein-coupled receptors from intracellular compartments. Emmanuel’s research interests focus on the spatiotemporal regulation of metabolic signaling, from the subcellular to the tissue level. During his Ph.D. rotation in the Cohen Lab, he is working on the contribution of macrophages to the differentiation dynamics of progenitor cells into beige adipocytes in mice.
Areas of Interest/Expertise: Signal Transduction, Cell Biology, Molecular Pharmacology
Selected publications:
- Flores-Espinoza E, Thomsen ARB. Beneath the surface: endosomal GPCR signaling. Trends Biochem Sci. 2024;49(6):520-531. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2024.03.006.
- Hahn H, Daly C, Little J IV, Perry-Hauser NA, Flores-Espinoza E, Inoue A, Plouffe B, Thomsen ARB. Endosomal chemokine receptor signalosomes regulate central mechanisms underlying cell migration. Elife. 2025;13:RP99373. doi:10.7554/eLife.99373.
- Flores-Espinoza E, Meizoso-Huesca A, Villegas-Comonfort S, Reyes-Cruz G, García-Sáinz JA. Effect of docosahexaenoic acid, phorbol myristate acetate, and insulin on the interaction of the FFA4 (short isoform) receptor with Rab proteins. Eur J Pharmacol. 2020;889:173595. doi:10.1016/j.ejphar.2020.173595.