Biography
After a degree in Biological Sciences (Licenciatura en Ciencias Biológicas, 2006), I got my PhD in Physiological Sciences under the supervision of Prof. Francisca Bronfman at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2011). During these early years I developed a strong interest on neurotrophic factors, the cholinergic system and neurodegeneration, while working on in vivo models to study NGF retrograde signalling in the septo-hippocampal pathway. During my doctoral studies I focused on defining novel mechanisms for the integration of signalling and trafficking of BDNF and TrkB in recycling endosomes, and their critical role for dendritic branching. Later, during my first postdoc at the Center of Aging and Regeneration, CARE Chile UC (2011-2013), I had the chance to came back to neurophysiology and help developing a new research line addressing the use of neuromodulators to increase functional recovery after brain stroke in rat and mice models.
I spent three years as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Universidad Andrés Bello (Chile), before I moved in 2016 to the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, supported by a Royal Society Newton International Fellowship and mentored by Prof. Gipi Schiavo. In the last few years we have made fascinating discoveries about the assembly and axonal transport of signalling endosomes that carry retrograde neurotrophic signals from the axon terminal to the soma, including the mechanisms by which TrkB receptors are dynamically sorted across the endosomal system. In 2019 I accepted a position as Research Fellow, associated to the UK Dementia Research Institute, where I have been developing a research programme to use what we know about Rab10 small GTPase and its role in the endosomal plasticity to provide novel therapeutic targets against dementia, especially in the context of Down Syndrome. From 2025 I'm also Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Psychology and Humanities at the Universidad San Sebastián.
Also a musician, and a father of three humans.
Research interest
Neurotrophic signalling, intracellular trafficking, Rab GTPases, endo-lysosomal system, dendritic branching, axonal transport, Alzheimer's disease, Niemann-Pick type C disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Down Syndrome, cholinergic system, advanced microscopy, integrative neuroscience, physiology and phenomenology of emotions, bioethics, epistemology, philosophy of science.