Post Doctoral Fellow

Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)

Mark F Bear

Structural and Molecular Reorganization of the Dendritic Spine during Long-Term Potentiation and Depression

I am deeply interested in the molecular basis of memory.
My current research is focused on visualizing how postsynaptic proteins move and how structure changes during the early phase of long-term potentiation or depression in single dendritic spines using two-photon glutamate uncaging. I want to understand how a change can persist in a synapse while its proteins are continuously and rapidly recycled.

2002 Pre-doctoral stay at Dr. Ernest Arenas Lab., Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics Department, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

2000 Undergraduate training at Dr. Antonio Zorzano Lab., Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

1999-2000 Undergraduate training at Dr. Jordi Bernués Lab., Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB), CID-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain

1997-1998 Undergraduate training at Dr. Marta Cascante’s Lab, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

2010-2012 Postdoctoral fellowship grant awarded by the “FRAXA Research Foundation”

2009 Award by Promega/INA for the best talk at the 6th Cristmas meetings in the "Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante" (INA)

2007-2009 "Beatriu de Pinós" post-doctoral fellowship by the Dept. of Education and Universities of the Government of Catalonia, Spain

2007 "Joan Oró" award by the Catalan Association of Science Journalism for the Popular Communication of Science

2001-2004 Pre-doctoral fellowship awarded by the University of Barcelona, Spain