Carola Maturana PhD

Carola Maturana PhD

Position
Associate Research Scholar at Princeton Neuroscience Institute
Office Phone
Office
Viral Neuroengineering
Princeton Neuroscience Institute
Laboratory A66
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544

Carola Maturana PhD

Position
Associate Research Scholar at Princeton Neuroscience Institute
About
Bio/Description

I completed my BSc in Biochemistry at the Universidad Austral de Chile and MSc in Neuroscience at the Universidad de Valparaíso, studying effect of odorants on the expression of c-fos in zebrafish. I did my second MSc and PhD in Physiological Sciences at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. I studied involvement of connexin 43 and pannexin 1 hemichannels of gilal cells in the neuroinflammatory response induced by glucocorticoid maternal. I was awarded a grant from the Universidad Católica Accelerator Program, to study the use of selective inhibitors of hemichannels formed by connexins to treat epilepsy. Then, I moved to Colorado State University, where I worked on the modulation of anestrus in sheep by hypothalamic estrogen receptors.

In 2017 I started her Postdoc in Engel lab at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. I identified and validated three small pan-neuronal promoters isolated from the genome of the alphaherpesvirus, using in vitro and in vivo studies. I validated the transgene expression and biodistribution of the AAV vectors driven by the new and ubiquitous LAP2 promoter in peripheral organs in mouse model. Currently, I am working as Associate Research in developing and validating AAV vector expression cassette elements to enhance transgene target specificity and expression in gene therapy.