Violeta Duran Laforet, PhD

I graduated from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2016 with a degree in Pharmacy. As an undergraduate, I collaborated with the Neurovascular Research Unit, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at School of Medicine in Universidad Complutense de Madrid. After graduating I formally joined the Neurovascular Research Unit as a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. Ignacio Lizasoain and Dr. María Ángeles Moro. During my Ph.D. studies my research focused on the role of neutrophils in the physiopathology of stroke studying the heterogeneity of the neutrophil population that infiltrates the brain after stroke. Also, I explored the role of the receptor TLR4 on neutrophil polarization and infiltration after ischemia. In 2019 and 2020 I was a visiting scientist at the Neuroprotection Research Lab, Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School. Under the supervision of Harvard professor Dr. Eng Lo I studied the implication of neutrophils on the pathophysiology of stroke and its relationship with the lymphatic nodules as well as the role of parenchymal astrocytes in neurogenesis after stroke. I received my Ph.D. in December 2020 and I joined Dr. Schafer’s lab as a Postdoctoral Associate where I continue to investigate the role of immune cells in the context of brain disease. My research in the Schafer lab is focused on leveraging spatial transcriptomics to study the role of senescent microglia in diverse neurodegenerative pathologies.