Valentina Rose Garbarino, Ph.D.

I am an early career translational neurobiologist with formal training in the areas of the biology of aging, neuroscience, physiology and pharmacology, and translational science. My faculty appointment within the University of Texas Health Science Center is through a partnership between the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy. My  academic research focus is on the field of translational neurobiology studying the mechanistic links between chronic stress and neurodegenerative disease risk and pathology.

I am a 2018 graduate of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Biomedical Science Program. Throughout my predoctoral training I maintained a focus on aging and neurobiology with project’s exploring the role of the microtubule associated protein tau in neuronal development of long-lived naked mole-rats, and the role of neurotransmitters and neurotransporters on behavioral outcomes relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders in mouse models. My postdoctoral training afforded a unique training opportunity in discovery, translational and clinical science, allowing me to participate in the work transitioning potential therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease from bench to bedside.

Throughout my research training, I have utilized cell culture models, mouse models of tauopathies, naked mole rats and a aging and resilience model, and worked with clinical populations relevant to healthy brain aging and neurodegenerative disease. I currently oversee two clinical trial studies evaluating safety and efficacy of repurposed medications (senolytics, mTOR inhibitor rapamycin), to therapeutically target aberrant pathway activity related to Alzheimer’s disease. Being able to ask questions and design experiments relevant to multiple parts of the translational science spectrum has been a great asset to my scientific repertoire, and has provided a broader vision for my work. Exploring the role of chronic stress on Alzheimer’s disease risk and pathophysiology is the focus of my independent research projects. My goal is to identify new health and disease state biofluid biomarkers (saliva, plasma) and potential therapeutic strategies and interventions for Alzheimer’s disease in clinical populations.