EPFL-Stanford Exchange Program Recipient Prof. Luis de Lecea
© 2017 EPFL
Prof. Luis de Lecea, Department Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, received the Firmenich EPFL-Stanford grant to conduct a short-term research stay in the laboratory of Behavioral Genetics headed by Prof. Carmen Sandi at the Brain Mind Institute. The purpose of this collaborative project is to study neuronal mechanisms associated with social stress. In particular they will test whether the energy producing systems, known as mitochondria, in a specific set of brain cells are important to confer resilience to stressful stimuli. This research may lead to treatments of stress and anxiety disorders.
Biography
Prof. de Lecea trained in Barcelona, Brussels and San Diego before starting his lab at The Scripps Research Institute in 1996, where he discovered two neurotransmitters critical for the regulation of sleep and wakefulness. He joined Stanford in 2006 and his work now focuses on the neuronal mechanisms underlying arousal and hyperarousal associated with stress, anxiety and addiction.
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EPFL has partnered with two of Stanford University's new interdisciplinary bioscience institutes: Stanford ChEM-H (Chemistry, Engineering and Medicine for Human Health) and Stanford Neurosciences Institute, to foster meaningful long-term collaborations between researchers in a variety of life science fields, with a particular emphasis on chemical biology and neurosciences. The program is generously funded by Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned company in the fragrance and flavor business.