Helping cure neurodegenerative diseases
Dr. Castro became interested in science when she was in high school. She liked to read biology books as a hobby and loved her chemistry class. She went on to study biochemistry at Concepción University in Chile and completed her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Universidad Austral in Valdivia. Upon finishing her PhD, she started her own lab to focus on helping cure neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Castro said, “I always thought it amazing that two cells can ‘talk’ and that this conversation is the basis for the regulation of events that are important in whole organism. The long-term goal of my research is to apply this knowledge to the study of neurodegenerative diseases.”
A major fire causes a setback
In December of 2007, this goal suffered a setback. A major fire devastated Dr. Castro’s lab and her entire department. In total, seven senior scientists and their 90 trainees lost everything.
Seeding Labs was proud to help. We worked with Castro’s team and colleagues to rebuild and restock the lab so they could continue their research.
Dr. Maite Castro Gallestegui
Universidad Austral de Chile,
Valdivia, Chile