Manuel Miranda-Arango

Manuel Miranda-Arango is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso. His research focuses on neuronal glycine and dopamine transporters, their regulation, trafficking pathways, and roles in glycinergic neurotransmission. He employs biochemical and microscopy techniques to study molecular mechanisms underlying transporter function and posttranslational modifications. His lab investigates glycinergic circuits in the CNS, particularly in the basal ganglia, using retrograde/antero-grade tracers and fluorescent viruses.

Key research areas include drug addiction, membrane transport, and trafficking. Miranda-Arango is affiliated with the Neuroscience community at UTEP and actively engages in undergraduate research mentorship. His work has been supported by NSF grants (DUE-0963648, HRD-1242122) and other funding opportunities. Notable contributions include describing glycinergic circuit architecture and elucidating lethality mechanisms linked to glycine transporter mutations.

Featured awards are noted but specific names are not listed. The lab's future directions include expanding drug abuse research into community contexts and exploring cognitive function regulation via neural circuits, as highlighted in recent UTEP news features.