Dr. Carmen Carrillo García

In Dr. Janzen's laboratory we are focused in the analysis of the molecular mechanisms regulating hematopoietic stem cells in transgenic and knock out mouse models. I am mainly involved in two projects: - in one project I investigate the role of p21 and its interaction with Caspase-3 in the regulation of hematopoietic stem cells; - in the second one, I study the role of Osteopontin in the hematopoietic niche and hematopoietic stem cell aging, and its impact on the regenerative capacity of aging cells.

As a PhD student and a Post-doctoral fellow in the Neurobiology department at the Uni- Heidelberg I had the opportunity to work on the field of neural stem cells investigating the role of the Growth/Differentiation Factor-15 (GDF15), a TGFβ, on murine neural stem cells during development. In parallel, I also completed a comparative characterization of neural stem and progenitor cells isolated from GE and hippocampus.

I was involved in the Stem Cell Project, working in primary tissue culture of stem cells from subventricular zone of adult mouse. Techniques involved: expansion of these cultures as neurospheres and differentiation (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and neurons). Primarily my work involved testing transfection strategies: both electroporation and lipid based transfection. I also used immunocytochemical techniques to visualize cells within cultures and I got experience in fluorescence microscopy.

Title of thesis: “Effect of the addition of PEG in the complexation of Naproxen with beta-cyclodextrin and its photodegradation”. The complexation phenomenon of Naproxen and beta-cyclodextrin was studied determining the constants of union of the drug to the cyclodextrin in the presence of different amounts from polymer and calculating the thermodynamical parameters of the inclusion process of these systems. In addition the effect of the PEG in the photodegradation of the free and complexed drug was stud

Title of project: “Variation in the enzymatic production of two species of Streptomyces” Techniques utilized included: Plate Culture, TLC, Spectrophotometry. The variation of the enzyme production was observed from two stocks of Streptomyces in different conditions: by a side was observed the enzyme production in matrass with baffles and on the other hand was observed the production inoculating with a punch

Title of thesis: "Role of GDF15 in the regulation of embryonic neural precursors". Magna cum laude.

Cellular an molecular biology.

Title of thesis: “Effect of the addition of PEG in the complexation of Naproxen with beta-cyclodextrin and its photodegradation”. Sobresaliente cum laude (equivalent to: suma cum laude).