María Llorens-Martín

María Llorens-Martín is a Tenured Senior Researcher at the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and a Group Leader at the Center for Molecular Biology Severo Ochoa (CBMSO). Her academic career spans roles including Assistant Professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) under the ‘Ramón y Cajal’ tenure-track program, postdoctoral research at the University of Tsukuba (Japan), and fellowships from CSIC, CIBERNED, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

• B.Sc. in Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) (2004)
• M.Sc. in Neurosciences, UCM (2006)
• Ph.D. in Neurosciences, UCM (‘Sobresaliente Summa Cum Laude’) (2009)

Her research focuses on adult hippocampal neurogenesis in health and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Key areas include the impact of exercise on brain aging, tau protein regulation, and GSK-3β signaling in neuronal morphology. She has pioneered protocols for studying human hippocampal neurogenesis and demonstrated its decline in Alzheimer’s patients.

Her work has been published in top-tier journals including Science, Nature Medicine, and Molecular Psychiatry, with high citations (h-index: 34). She has supervised multiple PhD students and received prestigious awards like the Miguel Catalán Young Investigator Award and induction into the Spanish Young Academy.

• Extraordinary award ‘Best Doctoral Dissertation’ (UCM, 2009)
• Young Investigator Award (CBMSO, 2013)
• National Young Investigator Award (CIBERNED, 2013)
• Miguel Catalán Young Investigator Award (2019)
• Young Female Talent in Biology (Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, 2019)
• Full Member, Spanish Young Academy (2021)

As a Group Leader at CBMSO, she supervises ongoing doctoral research and leads projects exploring the cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration and neuroplasticity. Her lab focuses on translating findings into therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders.