People

Francisco is a Molecular Biotechnology Engineer. During his postgraduate research studies, Francisco focused on adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and oligodendrocyte differentiation, leading to the obtention of a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Neurosciences in 2006 (Universidad de Chile, Chile). Thereafter, Francisco did his postdoctoral training at University of Regensburg (Germany), Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg (Austria), and University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), aiming to identify unknown mechanistic cues that control oligodendrocyte differentiation and to develop an MSCs-based therapy for myelin regeneration (remyelination). 

In 2016, Francisco was appointed as an Associate Professor at Universidad Austral de Chile. Later, in 2022, he moved and established his lab at the University of Helsinki and, in 2024, he became Professor in Integrative Neurobiology. Francisco has published more than 50 articles in well-known and high-ranked journals in the field of Regenerative Neurobiology and Myelin Repair. Overall, using in vitro and in vivo approaches, Francisco’ research efforts seek to determine the contribution of the vascular niche to remyelination and to develop regenerative therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS). 

Elena is a Chemist and Pharmaceutical technologist from the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy, with a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry awarded at the University of Regensburg, Germany. Elena was appointed in 2023 as University Researcher at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She is interested in drug discovery and in studying new molecules obtained from extreme climate plants for myelin regeneration, neuroprotection, and ageing. Particularly, during the last few years, she has been working with lichens from the Antarctic continent, Hops from Chilean Patagonia and plants from the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert. 

Carolina is a Biochemist from Universidad Austral de Chile. She started her doctoral studies at that institution (Doctoral Programme in Medical Sciences) and is currently pursuing a double doctoral degree with the University of Helsinki (Doctoral Programme in Drug Research), under a cotutelle agreement.   

Carolina has been studying how different cell types contribute to the remyelination process – both its success and failure. During her undergrad, she worked with Mast Cells and studied the presence of these cells in remyelinating lesions. For her PhD project, she is studying whether and how perivascular cells, in particular Fibroblasts, participate in myelin repair.

Biochemist graduated from Universidad Austral de Chile. He is currently a PhD student under a cotutelle agreement between the doctoral programme of Brain & Mind at the University of Helsinki and the doctoral programme of Medical Sciences at the Universidad Austral de Chile. He joined Professor Rivera’s laboratory group in 2019 aiming to understand how inflammation controls perivascular cells function during myelin repair.

Sebastian is a Biotechnologist graduated at the Universidad Mayor (Santiago, Chile), where he early developed his research interests in neurosciences. He started his doctoral studies at Universidad de los Andes (Doctoral Programme in Biomedicine) and is currently pursuing a double doctoral degree with the University of Helsinki (Doctoral Programme in Brain & Mind), under a cotutelle agreement. His research project aims to study the effects of prenatal stress (PS) on oligodendrocyte development and myelination, with a focus on the epigenetic changes involved this process. More specifically, Sebastian research efforts seek to understand whether and how PS may alter oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs)’ proliferation, differentiation and maturation affecting myelination during brain development. Finally, he intends to determine whether PS-derived alterations in the development of myelin-producing cells involves epigenetic changes in OPCs.