Team

Félix A. Urra, PhD

Félix A. Urra, PhD

Principal Investigator

I studied Pharmaceutical Chemistry, working as an undergraduate in the lab of Dr. Jorge Ferreira in mitochondrial bioenergetics. I then obtained a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and hold a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Chile. Currently, I am Assistant Professor at Faculty of Medicine (University of Chile), Principal Investigator of MPB Lab, Director of Chilean team of Snake Venom Research and Drug Discovery, and Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Chilean Bulletin of Herpetology.

My research has been focused on studying the role of calcium and non-essential amino acids in the rewiring of mitochondrial bioenergetics during the proliferation and migration of cancer cells. Moreover, I am interested in identifying new bioactive compounds with mitochondrial action, exploring synthetic compounds or toxins from snake and amphibian´s secretions. For this, we evaluate the cellular metabolism in real-time using XFe96 technology, RNA-seq analysis, metabolomics, and microscopy-based methods.

Sebastián Fuentes-Retamal

Sebastián Fuentes-Retamal

Postdoctoral fellow

Ph.D. in Pharmacology, University of Chile. Working on the role of alpha-KGDH in triple-negative breast cancer cell migration.

Karen Dubois-Camacho

Karen Dubois-Camacho

Postdoctoral fellow

PhD in Biomedical Sciences, University of Chile. Working on the targeting of mitochondrial bioenergetics to alleviate inflammation in colitis-associated macrophages

Juan Pablo Millas Vargas

Juan Pablo Millas Vargas

PhD student

Chemist, PhD student in Sciences Of Bioactive Products, University of Talca. Working on synthesis of bioactive mitochondria-targeted compounds as antiplatelet and anticancer agents.

Hector L. Montecino Garrido

Hector L. Montecino Garrido

PhD student

Bioinformatics engineer, PhD student in Biomedical Sciences, University of Talca. Working on the characterization of antiplatelet activity from derivatives of gentisic acid that inhibits mitochondrial bioenergetics.

Yarcely Rodriguez

Yarcely Rodriguez

PhD student

PhD student in Sciences of Bioactive Products, University of Talca, studying new small molecules as Complex I inhibitors with migrastatic effects in breast cancer cells.

Francisco Guajardo

Francisco Guajardo

Undergraduate student

Working on effects of chemotherapeutics on mitochondrial bioenergetics in breast cancer cells.

Yarela Herrera

Yarela Herrera

PhD student

PhD student in Biomedical Sciences, University of Chile. Working on transcriptomics of venom gland of rear-fanged snakes and molecular mechanism of action of toxins.

Diego Mendez

Diego Mendez

PhD student

PhD student in Biomedical Sciences, University of Talca. Studying the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics on platelet activation.

Ana Belén Tenorio

Ana Belén Tenorio

Master student

Master student in Biological Sciences, University of Chile. Studying the effect of sv-phospholipases A2 on mitochondrial respiration of cancer cells

Victor Andrades

Victor Andrades

Undergraduate student

Studying the effect of quinones on mitochondrial morphology and bioenergetics of breast cancer cells

Pablo Correa

Pablo Correa

Undergraduate student

Medicine student, University of Chile. Focused on mitochondrial metabolism in metastasis.

Sofia Burgos

Sofia Burgos

Undergraduate student

Medical student from University of Chile, studying the anticancer effect of new metabolic inhibitors.

Alumni

Alumni

Felipe Ruz (2022), Juan Pablo Salazar (2022), Sofia Burgos (2021-2022), Paulina Venturelli (2020), Pablo Correa (2019-2022), Charlotte Palominos (2019-2022), Nicole Cousinard (2020-2022), Mathias Mellado (2019).