Dr Alvaro Gonzalez Rajal
Biography
I obtained my PhD in 2012 at the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC). Soon after I moved to Australia to join the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, where I stayed for two years before joining the Garvan Institute in January 2015.
My scientific career has been focused on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that allow zebrafish (a 5cm long fresh water fish) to regenerate its heart, in order to gain insight that can be used to develop new strategies to treat heart failure in humans.
Since I moved to Garvan – where I am researching in understanding how aberrant signalling leads to cancer and how it develops and is maintained – I have become interested in the use of genomic tools that will allow us, in combination with genetic tools and patient samples, to better achieve our goals.
I obtained my PhD in 2012 at the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC). Soon after I moved to Australia to join the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, where I stayed for two years before joining the Garvan Institute in January 2015.
My scientific career has been focused on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that allow zebrafish (a 5cm long fresh water fish) to regenerate its heart, in order to gain insight that can be used to develop new strategies to treat heart failure in humans.
Since I moved to Garvan – where I am researching in understanding how aberrant signalling leads to cancer and how it develops and is maintained – I have become interested in the use of genomic tools that will allow us, in combination with genetic tools and patient samples, to better achieve our goals.
Education
2007 - BSc, Biology, Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) - Spain
2004 - BSc, Biochemistry, Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) – Spain
Selected Publications
Münch J, González-Rajal A, de la Pompa JL. Notch regulates blastema proliferation and prevents differentiation during adult zebrafish fin regeneration. Development. 2013 Apr;140(7):1402-11.
Luxán G, Casanova JC, Martínez-Poveda B, Prados B, D'Amato G, MacGrogan D, Gonzalez-Rajal A, Dobarro D, Torroja C, Martinez F, Izquierdo-García JL, Fernández-Friera L, Sabater-Molina M, Kong YY, Pizarro G, Ibañez B, Medrano C, García-Pavía P, Gimeno JR, Monserrat L, Jiménez-Borreguero LJ, de la Pompa JL. Mutations in the NOTCH pathway regulator MIB1 cause left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy. Nat Med. 2013 Feb;19(2):193-201.
Rodríguez P, Higueras MA, González-Rajal A, Alfranca A, Fierro-Fernández M, García-Fernández RA, Ruiz-Hidalgo MJ, Monsalve M, Rodríguez-Pascual F, Redondo JM, de la Pompa JL, Laborda J, Lamas S. The non-canonical NOTCH ligand DLK1 exhibits a novel vascular role as a strong inhibitor of angiogenesis. Cardiovasc Res. 2012 Feb 1;93(2):232-41.
Del Monte G, Grego-Bessa J, González-Rajal A, Bolós V, De La Pompa JL. Monitoring Notch1 activity in development: evidence for a feedback regulatory loop. Dev Dyn. 2007 Sep;236(9):2594-614.
