LORENZO LABORATORY
Dr. Alfredo Lorenzo
Alfredo Lorenzo received his MSc in Biology at the Faculty of Exacts, Physics and Natural Sciences at the National University of Córdoba where he later obtained his Ph.D. He then became a postdoctoral fellow in Bruce Yankner´s lab at Harvard Medical School, where he studied mechanisms that confer toxicity to amyloydogenic peptides in human pathologies, such as type two diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer´s disease. He returned to Córdoba in 1996, where he became the head of the laboratory of Experimental Neuropathology at the Ferreyra Institute. He is currently independent investigator of the argentine research council (CONICET). His group focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal degeneration in Alzheimer´s disease and in the anotomofunctional organization of the retrosplenial cortex, which is a cortical area affected in early stages of the pathology.
Associate Researchers
Dr. Anahí Bignante
Dr. Anahi Bignante is Assistant Researcher from National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET) and guest Professor at Universitary Institute of Biomedical Sciences Córdoba (IUCBC). She got Pharmacist and Ph.D in Chemical Sciences degrees in the Chemical Sciences School from the National University of Córdoba. Her tesis it was based in elucidation of some aspects from the neurobiological basis of emotional sensitization induced by acute stress, under the direction of Dr. Victor Molina. Later, she carried out her postdoctoral stay in the Experimental Neuropathology Laboratory of Ferreyra Institute, under the direction of Dr. Alfredo Lorenzo, studying several aspects of neurodegeneration induced by beta amyloid (Aβ), which have great imply in Alzheimer’s Disease pathology.
At present, Dr. Bignante performs her researchers at the Experimental Neuropathology Laboratory of Ferreyra Institute, analyzing aspects related with the amyloidogenesis and its modulation. Particularly, she is interested in describe mechanistically a feed-forward process of Aβ production focusing on the traffic and intracellular distribution of the proteins implied in the first amyloidogenic cleavage, APP and BACE1. At this end, she works with neuronal cultures and performs molecular and biochemichal assays, and advanced microscopy. Knowledge around this mechanism would clarify aspect related with Aβ deposition and would have relevance in develop of rationale therapeutic approaches in order of avoid and/or reduced Alzheimer’ disease progression.
HELGUERA LABORATORY
Dr. Pablo Helguera
Dr. Pablo R. Helguera received his doctorate in Biology from the National University of Córdoba, working on the development of molecular tools for typing and diagnosing plant viruses, under the direction of Dr Daniel Ducasse. His postdoctoral stage was developed in the laboratories of Dr David Papermaster (University of Connecticut. UCHC), and Dr Jorge Busciglio (University of California, Irvine. UCI), where he worked on different models of neuronal apoptosis (death). Currently he is part of the Laboratory of Experimental Neuropathology, as Adjunt Researcher of CONICET. His main interest is the study of the mechanisms associated with cellular aging and its potential relationship with neurodegenerative diseases.
LABORATORIO PIGINO
Dr. Gustavo Pigino
Dr. Gustavo Pigino is an Independent Investigator from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and Adjunct Professor at Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL USA. Obtained his Biology bachelor degree at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina in 1995. Subsequently, Dr. Pigino obtained his Ph. D. in Biological Sciences at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina in 1997. Later, Dr. Pigino carried out post doctoral studies at the University of Connecticut, USA, within the laboratory of Dr. Jorge Busciglio (1997-2003) investigating the cytoskeleton of neurons affected in Alzheimer’s disease. In 2003, he moved to Chicago where he got an Assistant Professor position at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to perform research on pathogenic mechanisms of a diverse set of progressive neuropathies. By the end of 2013, Dr. Pigino got the Adjunct Professor position at UIC, Chicago IL, USA, and entered the Investigator Career at CONICET as Investigador Independiente, Cordoba, Argentina. Dr. Pigino moved back to his country of birth, Argentina, where he resides along with his family in Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba. Dr. Pigino carries his research work at Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas Mercedes y Martín Ferreyra, institution where he did his Ph. D. studies under the supervision of Dr. Alfredo Cáceres. Dr. Pigino studies the pathological mechanisms associated to several progressive neuropathies of the central nerve system, including Alzheimer, Parkinson, Huntington, and Prion diseases.
More specifically, the primary focus of the laboratory orbits around the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the dysfunction and subsequent degeneration of axons and synapses of a diverse set of progressive neurodegenerative diseases known as Dying-back neuropathies.