From left to right: Gloria Girona and Andrés Roca (ENACH Boar of Directors) Jose Manuel Verdugo (Cellular Biologist) José A. Sánchez (PI ENACH BRAINCURE) Ana María Cuervo (Cellular Biologist) Rosana Sáez (BPAN mother and Cell Biologist) and Antonio López ( President for ENACH)
On September 3, a meeting was held in Valencia for which the collaboration in the ENACH BRAINCURE for BPAN WDR45 project by Drs. Ana María Cuervo and José Manuel García Verdugo formally started.
Dr. Ana Maria Cuervo is co-director of the Einstein Institute in New York. In 2001 she began her laboratory in Einstein Institute, where she studied AUTOFAGY with an emphasis on neurodegeneration and metabolic disorders.
Her laboratory has also pioneered about studies that demonstrate a close link between AUTOFAGY and cellular metabolism.
Dr. Cuervo is considered a leader in AUTOFAGY and has been invited to present her work in numerous national and international institutions, including keynote conferences. She has organized and chaired international conferences on AUTOFAGY, belongs to the editorial board of scientific journals on this subject and is currently co-editor of Aging Cell and associate editor of “Autophagy”
Recently, she has been named a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2019 she has been distinguished as a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The NAS is an American corporation whose members serve as "advisors to the nation in science, engineering and medicine."
On the other hand, Dr. José Manuel García Verdugo is Professor of Cellular Biology at the University of Valencia, head of the prestigious Cavanilles Research Institute and has been an adjunct professor at Rockefeller University in New York. He is a member of the Royal National Academy of Physical, Exact and Natural Sciences, of the Committee of Experts of the Prince Felipe Science Museum of Valencia and Patron of the General Hospital of Valencia.
His scientific career focuses on discoveries about the existence of neurogenesis in the brain. Its main tool has been electronic microscopy. Currently his studies are a world reference in this field, as per the number of citations received. Thanks to these studies it is currently possible to propose alternative strategies for the treatment of neurological pathologies, such as neurodegenerative diseases.
The collaboration of Ana María and José Manuel has been possible thanks to the personal involvement of Rosana Sáez, Cellular Biologist, Professor at the University of Valencia, mother of a BPAN girl and member of ENACH ASOCIACION.
ENACH BRAINCURE for BPAN WDR45 patient fibroblasts are already being studied by our two new collaborators of this project that by sure will help to other NIBIA diseases.