Carmen Muñoz Ballester, PhD 

Postdoctoral Fellow

Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute

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Carmen joined the Robel lab from Spain where she had completed her PhD studies on the molecular basis of epilepsy Lafora disease in Pascual Sanz’s laboratory at the Institute of Biomedicine of Valencia in 2017.

 

She studied the implication of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 in the pathophysiology of Lafora disease, obtaining an important background in molecular biology. During this period, she got fascinated by the many roles that astrocytes carry out in the brain in health and disease. For this reason, she decided to focus her career on these essential brain cells.

 

In the Robel lab, she will study the molecular mechanisms underlying functional changes of astrocytes after mild traumatic brain injury. He goal is to identify causal factors that  contribute to the development of post-traumatic epilepsy. 

 

Before doing her PhD Carmen studied Biology and received a master degree in Molecular approaches in Health Sciences at the University of Valencia in 2012.

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In her free time, Carmen travels, enjoys outdoor sports and learning languages.