Miguel Flores-Bellver, PhD
Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology

Professional Titles

• Director at ExoSight - The Human Stem Cells Exosome Lab
• Assistant Professor

Research Interests

Publications

• Liu YV, Santiago CP, Sogunro A, Konar GJ, Hu MW, McNally MM, Lu YC, Flores-Bellver M, Aparicio-Domingo S, Li KV, Li ZL, Agakishiev D, Hadyniak SE, Hussey KA, Creamer TJ, Orzolek LD, Teng D, Canto-Soler MV, Qian J, Jiang Z, Johnston RJ Jr, Blackshaw S, Singh MS. Single-cell transcriptome analysis of xenotransplanted human retinal organoids defines two migratory cell populations of nonretinal origin. Stem Cell Reports. 2023 May 9;18(5):1138-1154. PubMed PMID: 37163980
• Babapoor-Farrokhran S, Qin Y, Flores-Bellver M, Niu Y, Bhutto IA, Aparicio-Domingo S, Guo C, Rodrigues M, Domashevich T, Deshpande M, Megarity H, Chopde R, Eberhart CG, Canto-Soler V, Montaner S, Sodhi A. Pathologic vs. protective roles of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 in RPE and photoreceptors in wet vs. dry age-related macular degeneration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Dec 12;120(50):e2302845120. PubMed PMID: 38055741
• Ghosh S, Sharma R, Bammidi S, Koontz V, Nemani M, Yazdankhah M, Kedziora KM, Wallace CT, Yu-Wei C, Franks J, Bose D, Rajasundaram D, Hose S, Sahel JA, Puertollano R, Finkel T, Zigler JS, Sergeev Y, Watkins SC, Goetzman ES, Flores-Bellver M, Kaarniranta K, Sodhi A, Bharti K, Handa JT, Sinha D. The AKT2/SIRT5/TFEB pathway as a potential therapeutic target in atrophic AMD. bioRxiv. 2023 Aug 9. PubMed PMID: 37609254
• Gilmore WB, Hultgren NW, Chadha A, Barocio SB, Zhang J, Kutsyr O, Flores-Bellver M, Canto-Soler MV, Williams DS. Expression of two major isoforms of MYO7A in the retina: Considerations for gene therapy of Usher syndrome type 1B. Vision Res. 2023 Nov;212:108311. PubMed PMID: 37586294
• Zhang J, Sharma D, Dinabandhu A, Sanchez J, Applewhite B, Jee K, Deshpande M, Flores-Bellver M, Hu MW, Guo C, Salman S, Hwang Y, Anders NM, Rudek MA, Qian J, Canto-Soler MV, Semenza GL, Montaner S, Sodhi A. Targeting hypoxia-inducible factors with 32-134D safely and effectively treats diabetic eye disease in mice. J Clin Invest. 2023 Jul 3;133(13). PubMed PMID: 37227777
• Liu YV, Santiago CP, Sogunro A, Konar GJ, Hu MW, McNally MM, Lu YC, Flores-Bellver M, Aparicio-Domingo S, Li KV, Li ZL, Agakishiev D, Hadyniak SE, Hussey KA, Creamer TJ, Orzolek LD, Teng D, Canto-Soler MV, Qian J, Jiang Z, Johnston RJ Jr, Blackshaw S, Singh MS. Single-cell transcriptome analysis of xenotransplanted human retinal organoids defines two migratory cell populations of nonretinal origin. Stem Cell Reports. 2023 May 9;18(5):1138-1154. PubMed PMID: 37163980
• Guo C, Deshpande M, Niu Y, Kachwala I, Flores-Bellver M, Megarity H, Nuse T, Babapoor-Farrokhran S, Ramada M, Sanchez J, Inamdar N, Johnson TV, Canto-Soler MV, Montaner S, Sodhi A. HIF-1a accumulation in response to transient hypoglycemia may worsen diabetic eye disease. Cell Rep. 2023 Jan 31;42(1):111976. PubMed PMID: 36640318
• Guo C, Deshpande M, Niu Y, Kachwala I, Flores-Bellver M, Megarity H, Nuse T, Babapoor-Farrokhran S, Ramada M, Sanchez J, Inamdar N, Johnson TV, Canto-Soler MV, Montaner S, Sodhi A. HIF-1a accumulation in response to transient hypoglycemia may worsen diabetic eye disease. Cell Rep. 2023 Jan 31;42(1):111976. PubMed PMID: 36640318
• Li KV, Flores-Bellver M, Aparicio-Domingo S, Petrash C, Cobb H, Chen C, Canto-Soler MV, Mathias MT. A Surgical Kit for Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium Transplants: Collection, Transportation, and Subretinal Delivery. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022;10:813538. PubMed PMID: 35252183
• Qin Y, Zhang J, Babapoor-Farrokhran S, Applewhite B, Deshpande M, Megarity H, Flores-Bellver M, Aparicio-Domingo S, Ma T, Rui Y, Tzeng SY, Green JJ, Canto-Soler MV, Montaner S, Sodhi A. PAI-1 is a vascular cell-specific HIF-2-dependent angiogenic factor that promotes retinal neovascularization in diabetic patients. Sci Adv. 2022 Mar 4;8(9):eabm1896. PubMed PMID: 35235351
• Aparicio-Domingo, S. et al. (2023). Generation of Three-Dimensional Retinal Tissue with Physiologically Competent, Light-Sensitive Photoreceptors from Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. In: Gopalakrishnan, J. (eds) Brain Organoid Research. Neuromethods, vol 189. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2720-4_6
• Chen et al. Characterization of miRNA cargo in extracellular vesicles released by polarized human retinal pigment epithelium cells
• Domashevich et al., Extracellular Vesicles enrichment from postmortem human retina and RPE tissue?
• Mighty J, Rubio-Navarro A, Shi C, Zhou J, Flores-Bellver M, Heissel S, Onwumere O, Einbond L, Gharbaran R, Casper DS, Benito-Martin A, Redenti S. Extracellular vesicles of human diabetic retinopathy retinal tissue and urine of diabetic retinopathy patients are enriched for the junction plakoglo bin protein. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022;13:1077644. PubMed PMID: 36686464
• Zhang J, Qin Y, Martinez M, Flores-Bellver M, Rodrigues M, Dinabandhu A, Cao X, Deshpande M, Qin Y, Aparicio-Domingo S, Rui Y, Tzeng SY, Salman S, Yuan J, Scott AW, Green JJ, Canto-Soler MV, Semenza GL, Montaner S, Sodhi A. HIF-1a and HIF-2a redundantly promote retinal neovascularization in patients with ischemic retinal disease. J Clin Invest. 2021 Jun 15;131(12). PubMed PMID: 34128478
• Flores-Bellver M, Mighty J, Aparicio-Domingo S, Li KV, Shi C, Zhou J, Cobb H, McGrath P, Michelis G, Lenhart P, Bilousova G, Heissel S, Rudy MJ, Coughlan C, Goodspeed AE, Becerra SP, Redenti S, Canto-Soler MV. Extracellular vesicles released by human retinal pigment epithelium mediate increased polarised secretion of drusen proteins in response to AMD stressors. J Extracell Vesicles. 2021 Nov;10(13):e12165. PubMed PMID: 34750957
• Zhou J, Flores-Bellver M, Pan J, Benito-Martin A, Shi C, Onwumere O, Mighty J, Qian J, Zhong X, Hogue T, Amponsah-Antwi B, Einbond L, Gharbaran R, Wu H, Chen BJ, Zheng Z, Tchaikovskaya T, Zhang X, Peinado H, Canto-Soler MV, Redenti S. Human retinal organoids release extracellular vesicles that regulate gene expression in target human retinal progenitor cells. Sci Rep. 2021 Oct 26;11(1):21128. PubMed PMID: 34702879
• Cano M, Datta S, Wang L, Liu T, Flores-Bellver M, Sachdeva M, Sinha D, Handa JT. Nrf2 deficiency decreases NADPH from impaired IDH shuttle and pentose phosphate pathway in retinal pigmented epithelial cells to magnify oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Aging Cell. 2021 Aug;20(8):e13444. PubMed PMID: 34313391
• Biomarkers in Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium-derived Extracellular Vesicles: possible signatures of health and disease IOVS June 2020 Volume 61 Issue 7 Pages 19 - 5429
• A Novel Subretinal Transplantation Tool for Stem Cell-derived Retinal Transplant IOVS June 2020 Volume 61 Issue 7 Pages 19 - 5429
• Martinez-Gil N, Vidal-Gil L, Flores-Bellver M, Maisto R, Sancho-Pelluz J, Diaz-Llopis M, M Barcia J, Romero FJ. Ethanol-Induced Oxidative Stress Modifies Inflammation and Angiogenesis Biomarkers in Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells (ARPE-19): Role of CYP2E1 and its Inhibition by Antioxidants. Antioxidants (Basel). 2020 Aug 21;9(9). PubMed PMID: 32825644
• Bell WR, Meeker AK, Rizzo A, Rajpara S, Rosenthal IM, Flores Bellver M, Aparicio Domingo S, Zhong X, Barber JR, Joshu CE, Canto-Soler MV, Eberhart CG, Heaphy CM. A unique telomere DNA expansion phenotype in human retinal rod photoreceptors associated with aging and disease. Brain Pathol. 2019 Jan;29(1):45-52. PubMed PMID: 29668072
• Théry C, Witwer KW, Aikawa E, Alcaraz MJ, Anderson JD, Andriantsitohaina R, Antoniou A, Arab T, Archer F, Atkin-Smith GK, Ayre DC, Bach JM, Bachurski D, Baharvand H, Balaj L, Baldacchino S, Bauer NN, Baxter AA, Bebawy M, Beckham C, Bedina Zavec A, Benmoussa A, Berardi AC, Bergese P, Bielska E, Blenkiron C, Bobis-Wozowicz S, Boilard E, Boireau W, Bongiovanni A, Borràs FE, Bosch S, Boulanger CM, Breakefield X, Breglio AM, Brennan MÁ, Brigstock DR, Brisson A, Broekman ML, Bromberg JF, Bryl-Górecka P, Buch S, Buck AH, Burger D, Busatto S, Buschmann D, Bussolati B, Buzás EI, Byrd JB, Camussi G, Carter DR, Caruso S, Chamley LW, Chang YT, Chen C, Chen S, Cheng L, Chin AR, Clayton A, Clerici SP, Cocks A, Cocucci E, Coffey RJ, Cordeiro-da-Silva A, Couch Y, Coumans FA, Coyle B, Crescitelli R, Criado MF, D'Souza-Schorey C, Das S, Datta Chaudhuri A, de Candia P, De Santana EF, De Wever O, Del Portillo HA, Demaret T, Deville S, Devitt A, Dhondt B, Di Vizio D, Dieterich LC, Dolo V, Dominguez Rubio AP, Dominici M, Dourado MR, Driedonks TA, Duarte FV, Duncan HM, Eichenberger RM, Ekström K, El Andaloussi S, Elie-Caille C, Erdbrügger U, Falcón-Pérez JM, Fatima F, Fish JE, Flores-Bellver M, Försönits A, Frelet-Barrand A, Fricke F, Fuhrmann G, Gabrielsson S, Gámez-Valero A, Gardiner C, Gärtner K, Gaudin R, Gho YS, Giebel B, Gilbert C, Gimona M, Giusti I, Goberdhan DC, Görgens A, Gorski SM, Greening DW, Gross JC, Gualerzi A, Gupta GN, Gustafson D, Handberg A, Haraszti RA, Harrison P, Hegyesi H, Hendrix A, Hill AF, Hochberg FH, Hoffmann KF, Holder B, Holthofer H, Hosseinkhani B, Hu G, Huang Y, Huber V, Hunt S, Ibrahim AG, Ikezu T, Inal JM, Isin M, Ivanova A, Jackson HK, Jacobsen S, Jay SM, Jayachandran M, Jenster G, Jiang L, Johnson SM, Jones JC, Jong A, Jovanovic-Talisman T, Jung S, Kalluri R, Kano SI, Kaur S, Kawamura Y, Keller ET, Khamari D, Khomyakova E, Khvorova A, Kierulf P, Kim KP, Kislinger T, Klingeborn M, Klinke DJ 2nd, Kornek M, Kosanovic MM, Kovács ÁF, Krämer-Albers EM, ... Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018): a position statement of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and update of the MISEV2014 guidelines. J Extracell Vesicles. 2018;7(1):1535750. PubMed PMID: 30637094
• Vergara MN, Flores-Bellver M, Aparicio-Domingo S, McNally M, Wahlin KJ, Saxena MT, Mumm JS, Canto-Soler MV. Three-dimensional automated reporter quantification (3D-ARQ) technology enables quantitative screening in retinal organoids. Development. 2017 Oct 15;144(20):3698-3705. PubMed PMID: 28870990
• Asensio S, Morales JL, Senabre I, Romero MJ, Beltran MA, Flores-Bellver M, Barcia JM, Romero FJ. Magnetic resonance imaging structural alterations in brain of alcohol abusers and its association with impulsivity. Addict Biol. 2016 Jul;21(4):962-71. PubMed PMID: 25988724
• Atienzar-Aroca S, Flores-Bellver M, Serrano-Heras G, Martinez-Gil N, Barcia JM, Aparicio S, Perez-Cremades D, Garcia-Verdugo JM, Diaz-Llopis M, Romero FJ, Sancho-Pelluz J. Oxidative stress in retinal pigment epithelium cells increases exosome secretion and promotes angiogenesis in endothelial cells. J Cell Mol Med. 2016 Aug;20(8):1457-66. PubMed PMID: 26999719
• Canto-Soler V, Flores-Bellver M, Vergara MN. Stem Cell Sources and Their Potential for the Treatment of Retinal Degenerations. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016 Apr 1;57(5):ORSFd1-9. PubMed PMID: 27116661
• Martinez-Gil N, Flores-Bellver M, Atienzar-Aroca S, Lopez-Malo D, Urdaneta AC, Sancho-Pelluz J, Peris-Martínez C, Bonet-Ponce L, Romero FJ, Barcia JM. CYP2E1 in the Human Retinal Pigment Epithelium: Expression, Activity, and Induction by Ethanol. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2015 Oct;56(11):6855-63. PubMed PMID: 26567798
• Bonet-Ponce L, Saez-Atienzar S, da Casa C, Flores-Bellver M, Barcia JM, Sancho-Pelluz J, Romero FJ, Jordan J, Galindo MF. On the mechanism underlying ethanol-induced mitochondrial dynamic disruption and autophagy response. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2015 Jul;1852(7):1400-9. PubMed PMID: 25779081
• Barcia JM, Flores-Bellver M, Muriach M, Sancho-Pelluz J, Lopez-Malo D, Urdaneta AC, Martinez-Gil N, Atienzar-Aroca S, Romero FJ. Matching Diabetes and Alcoholism: Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Neurogenesis Are Commonly Involved. Mediators Inflamm. 2015;2015:624287. PubMed PMID: 26063976
• Flores-Bellver M, Bonet-Ponce L, Barcia JM, Garcia-Verdugo JM, Martinez-Gil N, Saez-Atienzar S, Sancho-Pelluz J, Jordan J, Galindo MF, Romero FJ.Autophagy and mitochondrial alterations in human retinal pigment epithelial cells induced by ethanol: implications of 4-hydroxy-nonenal. Cell Death Dis. 2014 Jul 17;5(7):e1328. doi: 10.1038/cddis.2014.288.PMID: 25032851
• Muriach M, Flores-Bellver M, Romero FJ, Barcia JM. Diabetes and the brain: oxidative stress, inflammation, and autophagy. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2014;2014:102158. PubMed PMID: 25215171