Miembro de Obesidad, diabetes y sus comorbilidades: prevención y tratamiento

Miembro de Obesity, diabetes and their comorbidities: prevention and treatment.

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Throughout her research career, Dr Mela has been interested in the modulation of cognitive function by neuroendocrine and neuroinflammatory mechanisms at different stages of development and under different pathological conditions. During her PhD, she employed an early stress model, based on maternal deprivation in neonatal rats. Using this animal model, she demonstrated how the regulation of leptin levels shortly after birth has profound and long-lasting behavioural effects in adulthood. Interestingly, these effects were sex-dependent and could be rescued by pharmacological approaches. These studies provided her with a strong appreciation of molecular changes associated with cognitive impairment. In addition to molecular, biochemical and behavioural approaches, these studies also included an international internship in Western University (California) for 6 months, where she employed cutting-edge electrophysiological techniques.   For her postdoctoral work, she first moved to the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) and then to the Trinity College of Dublin. There she focused on neuroinflammatory mechanisms and their impact on different pathological situations, such as depression, anxiety and Alzheimer’s disease. She employed different animal models and a variety of surgical techniques. She also expanded her experimental repertoire with cell culture, single-cell mRNA sequencing and analysis of cell metabolism. During this career stage, she also participated in different undergraduate programs at Trinity College, gaining experience in student supervision and university teaching.   After this postdoctoral phase, she obtained independent funding (Juan de la Cierva de Incorporacion and PAIDI 2020) to return to Spain.   Currently, she is a Principal Investigator Miguel Servet working at the IBIMA-Bionand (Malaga), where she is setting up a new research line within the laboratory of Dr Francisco Tinahones. This new research project will put together her expertise in metabolic diseases and neurodegeneration to address the role of microglia in obesity.   Dr Mela is a proactive researcher who has published high-quality research work in different national and international institutions and has participated in international scientific conferences and teaching activities.   She has several ongoing international and national collaborations, which will help to boost her own research program as an independent investigator.

• ORCID 0000-0001-7702-0972
• Scopus Author ID: 47061740700
• ResearcherID: N-4664-2017
• SciProfiles: 2073277
• Loop profile: 1633467