Carlos Ibanez Lab @ KI

Alvaro Carrier Ruiz received a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tokyo, specializing in Neurophysiology, under the supervision of Professor Masanobu Kano. Originally from Brazil, Alvaro joins our KI team to pursue studies on the physiological relevance of ALK4 signaling for brain function.

Michael Saleeb obtained a PhD in Organic Chemistry at Umeå University in Sweden in September 2018, under the direction of Prof. Mikael Elofsson. His PhD thesis was focused on the identification of novel antibacterial compounds against Chlamydia trachomatis & Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. During his PhD, Michael developed expertise in chemical synthesis including C-C and C-X metal-catalyzed cross coupling, C-H insertion reactions, various heterocyclic and polyphenol syntheses. Michael  joins our KI team to develop medicinal chemistry approaches to modify and improve on candidate small molecules capable of modulating the activities of various receptors, including our recently discovered compounds targeting p75NTR, based on our article in Cell Chemical Biology.  

Ana Osorio Oliveira obtained her PhD at the Gladstone Institute, University of California San  Francisco , USA, in 2015, under the direction of Profs. Paul Muchowski and Steven Finkbeiner. She performed postdoctoral studies at Stanford University under the direction of Dr. Xinnan Wang. Ana joins our KI team to work on studies of neurotrophic factor signaling and function in the adult nervous system. 

Wei Wang has a BSc in Public Health from Medical College of Southeast University, Nanjing, China, and a MSc in Environmental Toxicology from Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. She has worked as Assistant Researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences and the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. She joins our group to assist with histological methods and imaging of tissue samples from our mouse models.

Petronella Johansson trained at Kristianstad Highschool and subsequently pursued doctoral studies at the Scottish Fish Immunology Research Centre, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom, where she obtained a PhD in 2014. Petronella joins our group to help with mouse breeding and genotyping, as well as molecular techniques and admin duties.

Lilian Kisiswa obtained a PhD in 2011 in Visual Neursocience at Cardiff University, UK, under the direction of Prof. James E Morgan. Her PhD thesis was entitled “The role of inhibitor of apoptosis (IAPs) in retinal ganglion cell death and dendrite remodelling“. She then did postdoctoral studies at the Department of Molecular Biosciences, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, under the direction of Prof. Alun M Davies. Her postdoctoral work on reverse signaling by TNF ligands was recently published in Nature Neuroscience. Lilian will join the Stockholm p75 team in August 2013 to investigate the interplay between RIP2 and RhoGDI in the control of axon growth and degeneration by p75NTR and its ligands.

Diana Fernandez Suarez obtained her PhD in 2012 at the Center for Applied Medical Research University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, under the direction of Drs.Rafael Franco and Maria Soledad Aymerich. Her PhD thesis was dedicated to anatomical and funcitonal studies of the globus pallidus after manipulation of the endocanabinoid system in animal models of Parkinson’s disease. She performed postdoctoral work at the same laboratory during the past year. Diana will join the KI GDNF team in August 2013 to investigate adult functions of GFRa1 signaling in the healthy and diseased brain.

Karima Mezghenna obtained a PhD in Biology and Health Sciences at Montpellier 1 University under the direction of Prof. Anne-Dominique Lajoix with the title “Role of pancreatic and muscular neuronal NO synthases in the pathogenesis of prediabetic states”. Her work focused on unraveling compensatory mechanisms involved in insulin hypersecretion in insulin resistant rats with a special interest in the nitric oxide pathway. Karima will be joining our metabolism team in October to study the role of activin signaling through Alk7 and Alk4 in islet biology and the control of glucose homeostasis.

Maritina Sergaki obtained a PhD in molecular and cellular neurobiology in June 2009 at the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology of the Hellenic Pasteur Institute in Athens, Greece, under the direction of Prof. Rebecca Matsas. During her PhD, Maritina generated and characterized a mouse mutant for the neuronal protein BM88, also called Cend1. She discovered morphological abnormalities in the cerebellum of the mutants as well as motor deficits. Since her PhD, Maritina has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens under the direction of Prof. Irini Skaliora. Her project aimed at elucidating differential roles of ERK1 and ERK2 kinases in synaptic plasticity.

Miriam Schiff completed her PhD thesis in neuroscience in April 2010 at the Dept. of Cellular Chemistry, Hannover Medical School, Germany, under the direction of Prof. Herbert Hildebrandt. During her thesis, entitled “Development of the dopaminergic system and the reticular thalamic nucleus in polysialic acid-deficient mice“, Miriam investigated the development of midbrain dopaminergic neurons and the formation of thalamocortical and corticothalamic projections as well as the reticular thalamic nucleus in a mutant mouse lacking the two known polysialic acid synthases STX and PST.

Annalisa Vicario is to join our group on May 2010. Annalisa defended her thesis in the group of Enrico Tongiorgi at University of Trieste, Italy. Her thesis work was on mechanisms controlling BDNF mRNA localization and regulation of protein expression. She will join our p75ntr team as a postdoc fellow. We look forward to have her in our group.