Dr Cristina Martinez Gonzalez

Research Fellow

Biography

Background

My work has contributed to advancing our understanding of various neurological conditions, such as autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and spinal cord injury, and the underlying mechanisms that contribute to their development and progression (ORCID 0000-0001-9969-1160).

  • 2023-present Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh
  • 2017-2023       Postdoctoral research fellow in Prof Matthew Nolan’s group, University of Edinburgh
  • 2016                  Visiting Postdoctoral fellow in Prof Catherina Becker’s group, University of Edinburgh
  • 2013-2016      Postdoctoral scientist in Prof. Grégoire Courtine’s group, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

 

  • 2007-2012:     D.Phil in Neurosciences. University of Oxford, UK
  • 2004-2006:     M.Sc. in Biochemistry. UNAM, Mexico
  • 2000-2004:     B.Sc. in Basic biomedical research.   UNAM, Mexico

Research summary

My current research aims to understand the mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorders. I use neuronal activity markers combined with optical tissue clearing and light-sheet microscopy to map hyper- or hypo-activated neurons in the intact brain. 

Current research interests

Light-sheet microscopy and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Past research interests

Spinal cord injury, Parkinson's disease

Knowledge exchange

RatDISCO, a new clearing and immunolabeling protocol for large brains. Martinez-Gonzalez C*., Craigie, K., Till, S., Rochefort, N., Duguid, I., Nolan, M.F. In preparation.

Louros S.R*, Seo S.S*, Maio B, Martinez-Gonzalez C, Gonzalez-Lozano M.A, Muscas M, Verity N.C, Wills J.C, Li K.W, Nolan M.F, Osterweil E.K. Excessive proteostasis contributes to pathology in Fragile X Syndrome. Neuron. 2023 Feb 15;111(4):508-525.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.11.012. Epub 2022 Dec 9. PMID: 36495869.

Hristova K*, Martinez-Gonzalez C*, Watson TC*, Codadu NK, Hashemi K, Kind PC, Nolan MF, Gonzalez-Sulser A. Medial septal GABAergic neurons reduce seizure duration upon optogenetic closed-loop stimulation. Brain, Volume 144, Issue 5, May 2021, Pages 1576–1589, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awab042

Bonizzato, M., Pidpruzhnykova, G., Pavlova, N., Shkorbatova, P., Martinez-Gonzalez, C., DiGiovanna, J., Barraud, Q., Micera, S., and Courtine, G. Multi-pronged neuromodulation intervention engages the residual motor circuitry to facilitate walking in a rat model of spinal cord injury. Nat Commun 12, 1925 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22137-9

Asboth, L., Friedli, L., Beauparlant, J., Martinez-Gonzalez C, Anil, S., Rey, E., Baud, L., Pidpruzhnykova, G., Anderson, M.A.M.A., Shkorbatova, P., Batti, L., Pagès, S., Kreider, J., Schneider, B.L.B.L., Barraud, Q., & Courtine, G. (2018) Cortico–reticulo–spinal circuit reorganization enables functional recovery after severe spinal cord contusion. Nat Neurosci 21, 576–588 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0093-5

Tennant, S.A., Fischer, L., Garden, D.L.F., Gerlei, K.Z., Martinez-Gonzalez, C, McClure, C., Wood, E.R., & Nolan, M.F. (2018) Stellate Cells in the Medial Entorhinal Cortex Are Required for Spatial Learning. Cell Rep. 2018 Jan 30;22(5):1313-1324. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2018.01.005 

Martinez-Gonzalez C, Bolam JP, Mena-Segovia J. Topographical organization of the pedunculopontine nucleus. Front Neuroanat. 2011 Apr 5;5:22. http://doi.org.10.3389/fnana.2011.00022  

Martinez-Gonzalez C, van Andel J, Bolam JP, Mena-Segovia J. Divergent motor projections from the pedunculopontine nucleus are differentially regulated in Parkinsonism. Brain Struct Funct. 2014 Jul;219(4):1451-62. http://doi.org.10.1007/s00429-013-0579-6  

Martinez-Gonzalez C, Wang, H.-L., Micklem, B.R., Bolam, J.P., & Mena-Segovia, J. (2012) Subpopulations of cholinergic, GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus contain calcium-binding proteins and are heterogeneously distributed. Eur. J. Neurosci., 35, 723–734. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08002.x 

Affiliated research centres

Invited speaker

26.04.2023                Organizer and invited speaker at the symposium “Novel imaging technologies, optical clearing for large organs and data analysis tools” at BNA Festival of Neurosciences 2023.

27.04.2022               Invited speaker at the BNA member’s meeting conference UK

31.10.2020                Keynote speaker at the XV symposium of basic biomedical sciences, Universidad de Caldas, Colombia

06.03.2020                Invited speaker at the IMPACT open day, CDBS, University of Edinburgh.

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