George Barreto
Academic Appointments
- Postdoctoral Research fellow, Anesthesia
Contact Information
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Academic Offices
Personal Information Email Tel (650) 725-5875
Professional Snapshot
Honors and Awards
- Ph.D. Fellowship, International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) / Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (2006-2008)
- M.Sc. Fellowship, Foundation for Research in the State of Bahia (2004-2005)
Professional Education
| Doctor of Philosophy: | Universidad Complutense De Madrid, (2008) |
| Master of Health Sciences: | Fed. Univ. Rio Grande Norte, Biochemistry (2005) |
| Associate degree: | Castelo Branco University, Respiratory care (2005) |
| Minor in Biology: | Tiradentes University, Biology (2002) |
| B.S: | Tiradentes University, Physical therapy (2002) |
Faculty Advisor
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Scientific Focus
Research Interests
Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the United States. There is a growing body of data demonstrating that glial cells play an active and important role in the pathophysiology of cerebral ischemia. We will address two deficiencies in understanding- expressly studying aged mice and investigating changes in glial response, while also investigating improvement of mitochondrial function as a potential therapy to reduce injury from focal ischemia in aged mice, since mitochondrial impairment is characteristic of aging.
Previous studies have reported differences in glial cell reaction to focal ischemia with age and some data demonstrate that glial cells play significant and complex roles in the response to ischemia. Therapeutically targeting molecules have been exclusively studied in such way to attenuate or even protect brain from an ischemic insult. The overexpression of SOD2 has been shown to protect astrocytes against ischemic injury in vitro. Therefore, we will investigate glial reactivity in aged mice following focal ischemia, and target mitochondrial dysfunction with the SOD2. We hypothesize that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to dysregulation of glial response to injury with aging, and that SOD2 can partially normalize glial response, improve glial function leading to overall better neurological outcome from stroke.
Publications
- Selective estrogen receptor modulators decrease reactive astrogliosis in the injured brain: effects of aging and prolonged depletion of ovarian hormones. Endocrinology. 2009; (11): 5010-5
- Cytoprotective effect of Valeriana officinalis extract on an in vitro experimental model of Parkinson disease. Neurochem Res. 2009; (2): 215-20
- The role of catechols and free radicals in benzene toxicity: An oxidative DNA damage pathway. Environ Mol Mutagen. 2009
- Protein ubiquitination in postsynaptic densities after hypoxia in rat neostriatum is blocked by hypothermia. Exp Neurol. 2009; (2): 404-13
- Effects of the extract of Anemopaegma mirandum (Catuaba) on Rotenone-induced apoptosis in human neuroblastomas SH-SY5Y cells. Brain Res. 2008: 188-96
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