Nicolas Mercado

Background

About Nicolas Mercado

Nicolas Mercado is a Post-doctoral candidate in the field of Regenerative Medicine at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. His current research aims at identifying the key regulators of “stemness” in adult epidermal stem cells. Such regulators are at the heart of epidermal cell biology, epithelial regeneration and likely also play a part in inflammatory skin diseases and the ageing process.Nicolas has an extensive experience in the field of respiratory disease from his time at Imperial College (National Heart and Lung Institute) where he was involved in 19 publications including a lead authorship in the highest impact respiratory journal (AJRCCM). Most noticeably, he discovered new anti-inflammatory targets and potential new application for old drugs against two well-known chronic inflammatory diseases, namely Severe Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). During this period he developed a strong interest in how the ageing process of the lung might be involved in the pathophysiology of COPD, thus he got involved in the study of anti-ageing molecules as potential therapeutic targets. His ambition is to contribute and ultimately lead project teams that identify effective therapeutics which improve the quality of life for patients with debilitating age-related diseases.