Lidia Alonso-Nanclares, BSc (Hons) MSc PhD

JAD profile

Affiliation(s): 

Instituto Cajal (CSIC)

ORCID URL: 

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2649-7097

Areas of Interest: 

cerebral cortex; neuroanatomy; Alzheimer's disease; synapse; electron microscopy;

Biography & Research: 

Dr. Lidia Alonso-Nanclares works as a researcher at the Cajal Laboratory of Cortical Circuits (CSIC-UPM). Her main interest lies in the study of the detailed microanatomy of the neocortex and their alterations in pathological conditions, such Alzheimer's Disease. She began her research career in 2000, under supervision of Dr. Javier DeFelipe at the Cajal Institute, and she also worked for a short time in Prof. Yuste’s laboratory at the Columbia University (New York, USA). She received her PhD in Biology in 2005 (Universidad Complutense de Madrid). During her PhD, she performed microanatomical studies using light and electron microscopy, showing alterations in the epileptic tissue. As a postdoc, she was involved on the study of Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, she collaborated in the study of molecular mechanisms for cognitive enhancement. She continued working on the microanatomy of human brain cortex, investigating the synaptic density of the temporal lobe in non-pathological conditions, in particular, exploring the differences in temporal lobe synaptology comparing men and women. Concurrently, she carried on microanatomical studies in human epileptic hippocampus, finding changes in inhibitory cells, vascular system and in the synaptic circuits. These results were included in a PhD thesis (supervised by Alonso-Nanclares) on hippocampal alterations related to temporal lobe epilepsy, presented in 2009. Since 2009, she became a researcher in the Cajal Laboratory of Cortical Circuits working in the Cajal Blue Brain Project (the Spanish partner of the International Blue Brain Project), using dual beam electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) and other microanatomical techniques, she analyses the microanatomy of the rat cortical column and contributes to the development of new analysis tools, as well as in machine learning techniques enforcement in neuroanatomy. Since 2013, she also participates as a researcher in the Human Brain Project, contributing to the cortical column microanatomy. Furthermore, she also investigates how Alzheimer’s disease alters the fine structure of the human brain (funded by Alzheimer’s Association and Spanish National Grants).