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About
Dr Luis Alarcon-Martinez
Principal Investigator, Head of Visual Neurovascular Research
Dr Luis Alarcon-Martinez investigates how blood is distributed in the retina to help prevent or treat retinal neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr Luis Alarcon-Martinez
Principal Investigator, Head of Visual Neurovascular Research
BSc, MSc, PhD
Dr Luis Alarcon-Martinez is Principal Investigator at CERA and Head of Visual Neurovascular Research. His research focuses on how vascular dysfunction may contribute to neurodegenerative disorders and vision loss.
Dr Alarcon-Martinez has spent over a decade working in visual sciences and neuroscience in Europe, Canada and the US. He has developed sophisticated technical skills, including innovative imaging set-ups and microsurgical skills to study retinal diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and ischemic retinopathy.
Dr Alarcon-Martinez has an excellent publication record with a h-index of 23 and a total of 38 peer-reviewed publications, including articles in journals such as Nature, PNAS, eLife and Brain, letters, books and book chapters. He is also a reviewer for several scientific journals, including Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, PLOS ONE and Circulation Research.
He has gained several distinctions, including the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting Young Scientist and the Best National Thesis in Ophthalmology (Spain; MSD-Merck Sharp & Dohme prize).
Key research questions
- What are the mechanisms of neurovascular communication in the retina and brain?
- How does vascular dysfunction affect the retina and brain?
- How is neurovascular coupling regulated in retinal neurodegenerative diseases such as optic nerve neuropathy, glaucoma, and ischemic retinopathy?
Selected publications
Selected publications
Alarcon-Martinez L, et. al. (accepted). Pericyte dysfunction and loss of inter-pericyte tunneling nanotubes promote neurovascular deficits in glaucoma. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Alarcon-Martinez L, et. al. (2020). Inter-pericyte tunneling nanotubes regulate neurovascular coupling. Nature, 585(7823):91-95.
Alarcon-Martinez L, et. al. (2019). Retinal Ischemia Induces α-SMA-mediated Capillary Pericyte Contraction Coincident with Perivascular Glycogen Depletion. Acta Neuropathol Commun., 7(1):134.
Alarcon-Martinez L, et. al. (2018). Capillary pericytes express α-smooth muscle actin, which requires prevention of filamentous-actin depolymerization for detection. eLife, 7:e34861.
See more publications
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