I earned my Ph.D. from the University of Chile, where I studied the mechanism that regulated nuclear Ca2+ under Dr. Enrique Jaimovich’s mentoring. Then I moved to the University of Pennsylvania Medical School where I explored the nuclear localization 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (InsP3R) Ca2+channel by using high resolution electron microscopy and cryofracture as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Clara Franzini-Armstrong. Motivate in gain a better understanding of the physiological role of the InsP3R I joined Dr. Kevin Foskett’s lab also at UPENN, where I developed a strong interest in the regulation of cellular metabolism and bioenergetics by Ca2+. I was the first to show that basal constitutive low-level Ca2+ signaling by the InsP3R, is essential to maintain the sufficient mitochondrial NADH production to support oxidative phosphorylation in resting cells. In the absence of this calcium signaling, cells become metabolically compromised and a pro-survival AMPK-dependent mTOR-independent autophagy is turned on.
In 2019 I joined the Center of Integrative Biology at Universidad Mayor where we are exploring the role of mitochondrial-endoplasmic reticulum communication in cancer and aging .