ANTONIO JOSE
MACIAS SANCHEZ

At present time, I held a position as Professor at the Department of Organic Chemistry of the University of Cádiz (UCA). I received my PhD degree by UCA in 1996 with a thesis based on the synthesis of bioactive compounds derived from the sesquiterpene caryophyllene. This thesis includes work carried out at Professor James Hanson´s laboratory at the University of Sussex (UK). On the other hand, as a postdoc, I returned to Professor James Hanson´s laboratory to work on the secondary metabolism of the phytopathogenic fungi Botrytis cinerea as a mean to its control by the use of caryophyllene derived sesquiterpenes. Furthermore, I carried out a postdoc stay of one year in 2000 at Professor Laurence M. Harwood laboratory, at the University of Reading (UK), were I worked on some approaches to the synthesis of bioactive terpenes. My present research interests include the synthesis of bioactive Natural Products, its analogues, and the evaluation of their activities. This interest is also extended to the study of secondary metabolism in plants and fungi, as sources of compounds with novel action modes in the control of phytopathogenic fungi. I am also interested in the application and development of secondary metabolites from plants of genus Euphorbia in the promotion of the growth of neural stem cells and their differentiation into neurons, including studies oriented to the improvement of the bioavailability of active principles derived from the above-mentioned secondary metabolites. From an institutional point of view, I have been involved, since 2003, as a University officially appointed Scientific Consultant, in the development of a Mass Spectrometry laboratory at UCA, focused on small molecule applications. This has involved the application for funding (involving three successful ones for more than 700.000 euros each, last one granted in 2019) and personnel. As a result, we were able to set up an area devoted to sample preparation and another room specially conditioned for equipment. There, we run two high-resolution mass spectrometers, with GC (APGC), UHPLC, DESI (2D-MS imaging) and REIMS interfaces, a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with interfaces for both GC(APGC) and UHPLC and a devoted EI/CI GCMS with a triple quadrupole analyser.