CERA

About

Dr Isabel Lopez Sanchez

Head of Mitochondrial Biology and Disease

Dr Isabel Lopez Sanchez leads CERA’s mitochondrial biology and disease research, with a focus on Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON).

Dr Isabel Lopez Sanchez

Head of Mitochondrial Biology and Disease

BSc, PhD

Dr Isabel Lopez Sanchez is a Principal Investigator at CERA, leading research into mitochondrial biology and disease.

She pursued undergraduate education in France and the USA and obtained her PhD in 2014 from the University of Western Australia in Professor Aleksandra Filipovska’s group. During her PhD she characterised some of the mechanisms that regulate mitochondrial gene expression in humans.

She joined CERA after completing her doctoral studies and has conducted postdoctoral research in the USA, Spain and Sweden.

Dr Lopez Sanchez’s research focus is on human mitochondria and how defects in mitochondrial genetics and metabolism contribute to disease. Her expertise includes biochemical, molecular and cell biology approaches to investigate the mechanisms that mediate protection and pathogenesis in common neurodegenerative disorders, including optic neuropathies.

Her work is currently supported by a Mito Foundation Fellowship (2020-2022) to investigate the protective pathways that prevent vision loss in Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy.

Key research questions
  • What are the cellular and molecular changes that occur in LHON?
  • What genetic and environment factors protect or trigger vision loss in people with LHON?

Current projects

Selected publications

Key collaborators

Funding and support

Current projects

Investigating markers of mitochondrial disease in optic neuropathy

This project aims to characterise biomarkers of mitochondrial disease identified through transcriptomics analysis from human patient samples

Optic atrophy gene discovery

This project aims to identify novel disease-causing genes in patients affected by vision loss due to unknown genetic causes

Generation of retinal models of mitochondrial optic neuropathy

This project aims to use stem cell technology to develop disease-relevant models of mitochondrial optic neuropathy in vitro

Identifying mechanisms of mitochondrial gene expression regulation

This collaborative work aims to understand the mechanisms that regulate mitochondrial gene expression and their links to human disease.

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