Dr. Soraya L. Valles

In 1990, I graduated in Biological Science at the University of Valencia and remained there to undertake a PhD under the supervision of Consuelo Guerri at the Research Institution (Instituto de Investigaciones Citológicas), which I completed in 1996. During my PhD, I analyzed the events that occur during the early stages of astrogliogenesis during brain development, using “in vivo” and “in vitro” experiments. I conducted experiments on cells in the primary culture, such as radial glia (stem cells in brain), astrocytes, and neurons. In 1997, I joined Eva Qwanstrom’s group at the Hallamshire Hospital (University of Sheffiel) in Sheffield, UK and spent three years involved in the identification of an adhesion-regulated subunit of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor complex. I was working in immunology, cytokines, inflammation processes, and matrix regulation of IL-1 responses. In 2000, I returned to Spain at the Department of Physiology, Medicine Faculty of Valencia, University of Valencia. At this moment, I am a professor in my School of medicine and I work on toxicity inside the brain, looking for Alzheimer’s disease, marihuana, alcohol, and cocaine actions, and on inflammation and oxidative stress mechanisms. To do that, I use cells in culture, neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendroglia, and different techniques such as molecular biology and biochemistry techniques.