Axel R. Concepcion: The ConcepcIon Lab became an NIH-funded research Lab

“Today marks an important day for The ConcepcIon Lab as we become an NIH-funded research Lab. After two years at The University of Chicago, we have assembled a fantastic research team that aims to understand how ion channels regulate immune cell function.

We are confident our efforts will help to turn ion channels into future immunotherapeutic targets.

First, I’d like to thank my family for their unconditional support and for being my primary source of inspiration. I also want to thank all lab members for their hard work and for fostering an incredible lab environment.

I am eternally grateful to my mentors Nelida Gomez Luis Cubilla-Rios in Panama; JF Medina in Spain; and Feske Lab, NYU Grossman School of Medicine in US, for the time invested in me.

I am also thankful for all the support from the Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics department at University of Chicago, University of Chicago Committee on Immunology, The University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, all my friends and colleagues along the way, and funding agencies: Cancer Research Foundation, American Cancer Society, Institute for Translational Medicine, University of Chicago Digestive Diseases Research Core Center (DDRCC), and The Neubauer Family Foundation.

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Source: Axel R. Concepcion/X

Axel R. Concepcion is a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on the identification and characterization of novel membrane proteins and ion channels in cells of the immune system and involves the use of functional genetic screens in immune cells in the context of viral infection, autoimmunity, and cancer. He received a BSc in Chemical Technology from the University of Panama.