معرفی
Laura Castilla-Vallmanya is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Molecular Neurogenetics group led by Prof. Johan Jakobsson at Lund University, serving as Project Manager for Team Jakobsson within the Advancing Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) international network. Her work is embedded in Lund's MultiPark and StemTherapy initiatives, focusing on translational neuroscience and regenerative therapy.
She earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Biomedical Sciences and Genetics and Genomics, followed by a PhD in Genetics, all from the University of Barcelona. Her doctoral research advanced diagnostic methods for ultra-rare neurodevelopmental disorders through next-generation sequencing and functional studies.
Her current research investigates transposable elements (TEs) and epigenetic regulators in neurodevelopmental disorders using 2D/3D iPSC models, CRISPR editing, and sequencing. Key interests span transposon biology, heterochromatin dynamics, and genetic mechanisms underlying brain development and disease, with emphasis on epigenetic contributions to neurological pathologies.
Her 2024 Nature Structural & Molecular Biology publication reveals how mini-heterochromatin domains modulate SVA transposon impacts in brain development, establishing critical links between transposon regulation and neurodevelopmental disorders through integrated genomic and epigenetic analysis.
She leads two major projects: a Royal Physiographic Society-funded study on TE activation in neurodevelopmental disorders (2023-2025), and a Michael J. Fox Foundation-coordinated project investigating TEs as Parkinson's disease triggers (2020-2026), where she serves as Project Coordinator.
Active in Lund's neuroscience community, she organizes flagship events including Neuroscience Day (2024-2025), Segerfalk Symposium (2024), and UniStem Day (2024), contributing to both academic discourse and public stem cell science outreach.
