Maria G. Castro

Last updated
Maria G. Castro
Born
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Alma mater
Scientific career
Institutions

Maria G. Castro is an Argentine neuroscientist. She is the R. C. Schneider Collegiate Professor of Neurosurgery and a Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her research focuses on cancer immunology and gliomas.

Contents

Early life and education

Castro was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. [1] In 1979, Castro received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from the National University of La Plata (UNLP) in Argentina. She stayed at UNLP for master's degrees in biochemistry in 1981 and education technology in 1986, and a Ph.D in biochemistry in 1986. After her studies, she did research fellowships at the National Institutes of Health in the United States as a Fogarty International Visiting Research Fellow in 1988, and at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom in 1990. [2]

Castro married Dr. Pedro R. Lowenstein in 1988, and they run a joint research lab. [1]

Career

Castro and Lowenstein joined the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles in 2001. In 2011, they moved their joint lab to the University of Michigan. [1]

Currently, Castro is the R. C. Schneider Collegiate Professor of Neurosurgery and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her research focuses on cancer immunology, including studies of the tumor microenvironment and forms of brain cancer. [3] [4]

Castro was awarded the 2016 Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The award provided $2.8 million in research funding for her laboratory. [5]

University of Michigan's Rogel Cancer Center named Castro as a 2020 Forbes Scholar, providing funding for her research into models of glioblastoma. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neurosurgery</span> Medical specialty of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system.

Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johns Hopkins School of Medicine</span> Medical school of Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Children's Center, established in 1889.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa</span> American physician

Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa is a Mexican-American neurosurgeon, author, and researcher. Currently, he is the William J. and Charles H. Mayo Professor and Chair of Neurologic Surgery and runs a basic science research lab at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville in Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huda Zoghbi</span> Lebanese scientist

Huda Yahya Zoghbi is a Lebanese-born American geneticist, and a professor at the Departments of Molecular and Human Genetics, Neuroscience and Neurology at the Baylor College of Medicine. She is the director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute. She was the editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience from 2018-2024.

Karin Marie Muraszko is an American pediatric neurosurgeon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexa Canady</span> Medical doctor specializing in neurosurgery

Alexa Irene Canady is a retired American medical doctor specializing in pediatric neurosurgery. She was born in Lansing, Michigan and earned both her bachelors and medical degree from the University of Michigan. After completing her residency at the University of Minnesota in 1981, she became the first black woman to become a neurosurgeon. This came after Ruth Kerr Jakoby became the first American woman to be board certified in neurosurgery in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron Cohen-Gadol</span> American neurosurgeon

Aaron A. Cohen-Gadol is a professor of clinical neurological surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Rutka</span> Canadian neurosurgeon

James Rutka is a Canadian neurosurgeon from Toronto, Canada. Rutka served as RS McLaughlin Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto from 2011 – 2022. He subspecializes in pediatric neurosurgery at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and is a Senior Scientist in the Research Institute at SickKids. His main clinical interests include the neurosurgical treatment of children with brain tumours and epilepsy. His research interests lie in the molecular biology of human brain tumours – specifically in the determination of the mechanisms by which brain tumours grow and invade. He is the Director of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at SickKids, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurosurgery.

Luis F. Parada is a Colombian developmental biologist and neuroscientist who currently serves as Director of the Brain Tumor Center, Albert C. Foster Chair and American Cancer Society Research Professor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, New York.

Sheila K. Singh MD, PhD, FRCSC is a chief pediatric neurosurgeon at McMaster Children's Hospital in Ontario, Canada. She is also Professor of Surgery and Biochemistry, the Division Head of Neurosurgery at Hamilton Health Sciences, the Research Director for McMaster's Division of Neurosurgery, and a scientist/principal investigator appointed to the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute at McMaster University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Monje</span> American neurologist and researcher (born 1978)

Michelle Leigh Monje-Deisseroth is a neuroscientist and neuro-oncologist. She is a professor of neurology at Stanford University and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She develops new treatments for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center</span>

The University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center is a cancer research and treatment institution based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The Rogel Cancer Center is affiliated with the University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duane Mitchell</span> American physician and research scientist

Duane A. Mitchell is an American physician-scientist and university professor. He is currently employed at the University of Florida College of Medicine, in Gainesville, Florida as the Assistant Vice President for Research, Associate Dean for Translational Science and Clinical Research, and Director of the University of Florida (UF) Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He is the Phyllis Kottler Friedman Professor in the Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery. and co-director of the Preston A. Wells Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy. Mitchell is also the founder, President, and Chairman of iOncologi, Inc., a biotechnology company in Gainesville, FL specializing in immuno-oncology.

Bear Necessities Pediatric Foundation is a nonprofit national organization that works with children who have cancer, and their families by providing resources and positive experiences. This organization was founded in memory of Barret "Bear" Krupa, a boy who had a wish to help other children and families with cancer. The Bear Necessities Pediatric Foundation has expanded into two main programs: Bear Discoveries, which focuses on funding for research, and Bear Hugs, which focuses on giving children and their families a positive experience.

Moses V. Chao is a neuroscientist and university professor at NYU Langone Health Medical Center. He studies the mechanisms of neuronal growth factor and teaches courses in cell biology, neuroscience, and physiology. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was President of the Society for Neuroscience in 2012.

Linda M. Liau is an American neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, and the W. Eugene Stern Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Liau was elected to the Society of Neurological Surgeons in 2013 and the National Academy of Medicine in 2018. She has published over 230 research articles and a textbook, Brain Tumor Immunotherapy. She served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology from 2007 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David H. Gutmann</span> American neurologist

David Hillel Gutmann is an American neurologist-neuroscientist. He teaches at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor, and Director of the Washington University Neurofibromatosis Center. He is an international expert in Neurofibromatosis, pioneering the use of preclinical models to understand brain tumors and neurodevelopmental delays in children with NF1.

Joy Wolfram is a Finnish nanoscientist. She is known for her pioneering work in nanomedicine concerning the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and other life-threatening illnesses. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, in the school of Chemical Engineering and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. She was the forefront of the Extracellular Vesicles and Nanomedicine laboratory at Mayo Clinic. She is also an affiliate faculty member at Houston Methodist Hospital's Department of Nanomedecine. Wolfram sits as a scientific advisor and as a board member of several biotechnology companies around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy B. Heimberger</span> American neurosurgeon and physician-scientist

Amy B. Heimberger is an American neurosurgeon and physician-scientist. She is the Jean Malnati Miller Professor of Neurological Surgery, vice-chair for research in the department of Neurological Surgery at Feinberg School of Medicine and scientific director of The Malnati Brain Tumor Institute at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soma Sengupta</span> Scientist and neuro-oncologist

Soma Sengupta is a British-American physician-scientist. She is a specialty board certified neuro-oncologist board certified Neurologist and fellowship-trained in Integrative Medicine. Her clinical interests span treatment of brain tumor patients, integrative approaches in neurology and oncology, as well as healthcare policy. She is a full-time faculty member in the Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is a Full Professor, Vice Chair, member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Chief of the Division of Neuro-Oncology. She is also a Bye Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, U.K.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Maria G. Castro, PhD" (PDF). Irene & Eric Simon Brain Research Foundation. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  2. "Maria G. Castro, PhD - Castro/Lowenstein Lab - Brain Tumor Biology & Therapeutics". castro-lowenstein.lab.medicine.umich.edu. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  3. "Maria G. Castro, Ph.D." Neurosurgery – Michigan Medicine. 1 October 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  4. "Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation - Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and Partners Announce Investment in Novel Immunotherapy Research at the Chad Carr Pediatric Brain Tumor Center at Michigan Medicine". www.curethekids.org. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  5. "Neuroscientist receives Javits Award to study how brain tumors thwart immune system". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  6. "Forbes Scholars". Rogel Cancer Center | University of Michigan. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  7. "Rogel Cancer Center names 2 Forbes Scholars to fuel translational research". Rogel Cancer Center | University of Michigan. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.