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
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
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
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
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
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
Undergraduate student
Working on effects of chemotherapeutics on mitochondrial bioenergetics in breast cancer cells.
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
PhD student
PhD student in Biomedical Sciences, University of Talca. Studying the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics on platelet activation.
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
Undergraduate student
Studying the effect of quinones on mitochondrial morphology and bioenergetics of breast cancer cells
Sofia Burgos
Undergraduate student
Medical student from University of Chile, studying the anticancer effect of new metabolic inhibitors.
Juan Pablo Salazar
Undergraduate student
Medical student, University of Chile. Focused on mitochondrial metabolism in cancer cell migration.
Alumni
PhD students: Héctor Montecino Garrido (2020-2023). Master students: Charlotte Palominos (2019-2022). Undergraduate students: Fernanda Soriano (2023), Lilian López (2023), Francisco Llancamán (2023), Paulina Venturelli (2020), Pablo Correa (2019-2022), Nicole Cousinard (2020-2022), Mathias Mellado (2019).