{"id":79728,"date":"2019-05-21T14:31:12","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T19:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=79728"},"modified":"2019-05-23T14:47:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T19:47:14","slug":"madrids-cajal-institute-fosters-collaboration-among-international-neuroscientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/madrids-cajal-institute-fosters-collaboration-among-international-neuroscientists\/","title":{"rendered":"Madrid\u2019s Cajal Institute fosters collaboration among international neuroscientists"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Valerie Nikolas<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

A Japanese postdoctoral fellow, two Spanish doctoral candidates, an Italian undergraduate and an American journalist walk into a neuroscience research institute in Spain.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 2 p.m. and the Cajal Institute\u2019s break room is abuzz with the sounds of scientists eating packed lunches, discussing the latest episode of Game of Thrones and debating which country has the best coffee.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m at the Cajal Institute for a three-week embedded science reporting assignment, during which I will work closely with scientists here to learn about their research and communicate their findings. The Cajal Institute\u2014the oldest neuroscience institute in Spain\u2014was founded by Santiago Ram\u00f3n y Cajal, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern neuroscience.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Cajal Institute, located in Madrid’s Chamart\u00edn district. (Valerie Nikolas\/MEDILL REPORTS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m sitting with members of the neuroendocrinology unit: postdoctoral researchers Jaime Pignatelli and Kentaro Suda, doctoral candidates M. Estrella Fern\u00e1ndez de Sevilla and Laura Mart\u00ednez , and undergraduate students Miriam Caroppoli and Iv\u00e1n Mendez. They are taking a break from the demands of their experiments to eat, relax and socialize.<\/p>\n

This lab\u2019s work, led by Ignacio Torres Alem\u00e1n, focuses on how hormones affect cognition. These researchers, along with chief scientist Ana Fern\u00e1ndez, doctoral candidate Jonathan Zegarra, Fulbright scholar Jacob Sperber and research assistants Roberto Ca\u00f1adas and Miguel Garc\u00eda, study how hormones such as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) affect neuroplasticity \u2013 the brain\u2019s ability to form new neural connections throughout a person\u2019s lifespan. Their research has implications for understanding neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ignacio Torres Alem\u00e1n, the head of the Cajal Institute’s neuroendocrinology laboratory. (Valerie Nikolas\/MEDILL REPORTS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The neuroendocrinology lab is one of the institute\u2019s 27 laboratories, which investigate everything brain-related, from neuroanatomy to pharmacology. Most of the lab’s experiments are basic science research, primarily using brain cells from mice and rats, that help researchers understand broader questions about how the mind works.<\/p>\n

The ultimate goal, according to Alem\u00e1n, is to “develop models that lead to new pathways to developing drugs” that treat the diseases caused by disturbances in these cycles. As such, the neuroendocrinology lab partners with local hospitals to administer human studies.<\/p>\n

By 3 p.m. everyone has returned to their work upstairs in the lab. The silence of concentration is interrupted only by the sounds of timers beeping for various experiments, or a question asked in either English or Spanish.<\/p>\n

Pignatelli researches the interplay between IGF-1 and orexin, a neuropeptide that regulates arousal, wakefulness and appetite. With the help of undergraduate students\u00a0 Caroppoli and Mendez, he seeks to understand how this neuropeptide is affected by stress and other behavioral influences. Fulbright Scholar Jacob Sperber of New Jersey sometimes assists Pignatelli too. Sperber\u2019s research focuses on the mechanisms driving food-seeking behavior.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Postdoctoral researcher Jaime Pignatelli shows undergraduate student Iv\u00e1n Mendez how to pipette a mix of two molecules, called primers, that will set off a reaction. This will help them determine if genes that code for orexin and IGF-1, molecules that regulate metabolism and the circadian rhythm, are present in the tissue sample they are studying. (Valerie Nikolas\/MEDILL REPORTS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mart\u00ednez and Fern\u00e1ndez de Sevilla are both doctoral candidates (or \u201cpre-doctoral,\u201d as they are called in Spain). Mart\u00ednez’s project aims to better understand how glucose is metabolized in the brain, while Fern\u00e1ndez de Sevilla\u2019s focuses on understanding brain cells\u2019 receptors for orexin in the hypothalamus region of the brain.<\/p>\n

Zegarra, also a doctoral candidate, has published findings on the relation between IGF-1 and neuropsychiatric disorders<\/a> such as\u00a0 Alzheimer’s disease and on the decrease of interaction<\/a> between IGF-1 and estradiol\u00a0 (a female sex hormone) in female mice during menopause.<\/p>\n

Together, these researchers\u2019 collaborative efforts contribute to the greater goal of understanding how hormones affect the brain, thus giving us greater insight into one of the greatest scientific questions of our time: how our own minds work.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: The Cajal Institute’s neuroendocrinology lab (from left to right): Jonathan Zegarra, Kentaro Suda, Iv\u00e1n Mendez, Ignacio Torres Alem\u00e1n, Valerie Nikolas (Medill journalist), Jaime Pignatelli, Roberto Ca\u00f1adas, Laura Mart\u00ednez, Miguel Garc\u00eda, M. Estrella Fern\u00e1ndez de Sevilla, Miriam Caroppoli, Jacob Sperber and Ana Fern\u00e1ndez, standing in front of a portrait of institute founder Santiago Ram\u00f3n y Cajal.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Valerie Nikolas Medill Reports A Japanese postdoctoral fellow, two Spanish doctoral candidates, an Italian undergraduate and an American journalist walk into a neuroscience research institute in Spain. It\u2019s 2 p.m. and the Cajal Institute\u2019s break room is abuzz with the sounds of scientists eating packed lunches, discussing the latest episode of Game of Thrones […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":512,"featured_media":79950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29,4741,4630],"tags":[4767,4756,155],"class_list":["post-79728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-health-and-science","category-spring-2019","category-technology","tag-biology","tag-neuroscience","tag-science"],"yoast_head":"\nMadrid\u2019s Cajal Institute fosters collaboration among international neuroscientists - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/madrids-cajal-institute-fosters-collaboration-among-international-neuroscientists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Madrid\u2019s Cajal Institute fosters collaboration among international neuroscientists - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Valerie Nikolas Medill Reports A Japanese postdoctoral fellow, two Spanish doctoral candidates, an Italian undergraduate and an American journalist walk into a neuroscience research institute in Spain. It\u2019s 2 p.m. and the Cajal Institute\u2019s break room is abuzz with the sounds of scientists eating packed lunches, discussing the latest episode of Game of Thrones […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/madrids-cajal-institute-fosters-collaboration-among-international-neuroscientists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-21T19:31:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-23T19:47:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/05\/Cajal-Scientists.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"valerienikolas2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"valerienikolas2019\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/madrids-cajal-institute-fosters-collaboration-among-international-neuroscientists\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/madrids-cajal-institute-fosters-collaboration-among-international-neuroscientists\/\",\"name\":\"Madrid\u2019s Cajal Institute fosters collaboration among international neuroscientists - 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