Julen Goicolea Egia, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate
I earned my degree in Biotechnology from the University of the Basque Country in 2014. As an undergraduate, I worked as a research assistant in the Crystallography for Proteins and Viruses group at the Biophysics Unit (CSIC-UPV/EHU), led by Dr. Diego M.A. Guérin. In this role, I contributed to the expression and characterization of the viral protein 4 (VP4) of Triatoma Virus.
In 2016, I completed my master's degree in biomedical sciences at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. During my master's, I joined Dr. Bart Eggen's lab, where I investigated various approaches to modulate inflammatory responses in microglia and explored the molecular mechanisms underlying these responses.
In 2017, I started my Ph.D. journey at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, working in the labs of Prof. Angel Cedazo-Minguez and Dr. Silvia Maioli. Throughout my Ph.D. studies, my research focused on understanding how alterations in cholesterol metabolism and inflammatory processes contribute to Alzheimer's disease. A significant part of my doctoral research involved the characterization and function of Thioredoxin-80 (Trx80), a truncated form of an antioxidant protein altered in the brains of Alzheimer's Disease patients. We demonstrated that Trx80 is produced by neurons under stress conditions, and signals to microglia inducing inflammatory responses.
I successfully defended my Ph.D. in December 2021 and in 2024 I joined Dr. Schafer's lab as a Postdoctoral Associate. My research is focused on generating and characterizing a humanized mouse model that promotes the development of functionally mature human immune cells. My aim is to study these immune cells in the context of neurodegeneration.
