Roles
Professor
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Biography
During his training years in Germany and France Dr. Caicedo focused his research on the neuroanatomy of the auditory system at the brainstem level and inner ear. His main contribution to the field was to map the connections between the inferior colliculus and lower nuclei of the auditory brainstem using anterograde axonal tracing. During his postdoctoral training with Dr. Stephen Roper at the University of Miami Dr. Caicedo studied how taste receptor cells detect taste stimuli. He developed a technique that allows Ca2+ imaging to be performed on taste cells within their native environment. As a result of this technical breakthrough he published a series of papers that established the sensitivity, the specificity, and the molecular mechanisms of taste cell responses to bitter stimuli (e.g. Caicedo and Roper, 2001, Science). Following an attractive offer from Dr. Per-Olof Berggren to lead his laboratory at the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) in Miami, Dr. Caicedo began studying the physiology of human islets in 2004. Given his background in the neurosciences, Dr. Caicedo studied neurotransmitters and helped define their role as paracrine signals within the islet. While some signaling mechanisms are similar in humans and mice (Cabrera et al., 2008, Cell Metabolism), a major finding was that human alpha cells secrete acetylcholine (Rodriguez-Diaz et al., 2011, Nature Medicine). -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
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Honors & Awards
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Teaching Interests
As part of his role as a scholar Dr. Caicedo considers teaching and mentoring a vital element. During his postdoctoral years at UM he taught medical students in small group sessions. After joining the faculty at the University of Miami, Dr. Caicedo has consistently participated in the neuroscience courses of the Neuroscience Program. He further organized a short course about the visceral nervous system, a subject that receives little attention in most neuroscience programs across the country. In 2016, Dr. Caicedo led the Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Course of the Master of Vision Science and Investigative Ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Importantly, since Dr. Caicedo arrived at UM he has mentored generations of scientists at different levels (n = 13). Several of his mentees have become independent investigators worldwide. Two of his current postdocs recently received awards from the NIH to pursue their independent careers as junior professors. Dr. Caicedo is at present thesis advisor of two graduate students in his lab and a member of the thesis committees of 9 graduate students in two different graduate programs.
As part of his faculty duties at the University of Miami Dr. Caicedo has participated in different committees (Scientific Advisory Committee, PIBS Admissions and Operation Committee) and helped review internal grants for the Stanley Glaser Foundation. -
Research Interests
Dr. Caicedo's current research in the Division of Endocrinology is to understand the signaling cascades that lead to the highly orchestrated hormone secretion from the human pancreatic islet. Within this broad topic, he addresses three questions: a) How does the structure of human islets affect intercellular communication within the islet? b) how do islets work in the living organism and impact glucose metabolism? c) how do islet fail during the progression to diabetes? -
Publications
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