Biography

Through different projects on the biology of biomarkers/biotargets, I have worked at the interface between vessels and organs to explore new mechanisms in various diseases such as systemic and pulmonary hypertension, heart and kidney failure, atherosclerosis or multiple sclerosis.

As a Master student and later as a PhD student in the prestigious INSERM institute in Nancy (France), I conducted my research with Dr. Natalia López-Andrés and Dr. Patrick Rossignol on biomarker roles in vascular remodeling during hypertension. I gained expertise in standard techniques and developed specific skills such as cardiac catheterization. My main research was focused on Galectin-3 biology and Aldosterone pathway involved in arterial hypertensive diseases. My PhD work was awarded in international congress and resulted in 9 original publications, including first authorship in ATVB (2013), JACC: Heart Failure (2015) and co-first authorship in hypertension (2015).

For my postdoctoral training, I have first worked with Dr. Georg Hansmann at Hannover Medical School (MHH, Germany), which is one of the best lung transplantation centers worldwide. This was a great opportunity to access to human samples, develop translational research on biomarkers in pulmonary hypertension and learn new techniques and concepts on cell metabolism, microRNA and pulmonary vascular remodeling. My postdoc was mainly focused on the BMP-2 and TGF-β1 pathways in pulmonary hypertension and its pharmacological inhibition. These studies have led to first authorship publications in major international peer-reviewed scientific journals (Heart, 2016; Cell Metabolism, 2017; Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017; Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol, 2019; Circ Res, 2019) and I was granted with one research grant from ESAC and one fellowship from FEBS.

Since, I continue to build on my previous training on biomarkers and vascular biology by investigating Reelin-dependent leucocyte extravasation during chronic inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis. These projects were initially granted by a postdoctoral fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG), offering me exciting opportunities for the development of human therapeutic drugs. My mentor Dr. Joachim Herz is an internationally recognized leader in the role of the members of the LDL receptor family as signaling receptors in the brain and in the vascular wall. I enjoy the chance to work in a challenging, rigorous yet supportive environment in the department directed by the Nobel Laureates Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Joseph Goldstein within UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, one of the premier academic medical centers in the USA.