Sara Mederos

Sara Mederos did her PhD at the Perea Lab (2015-2019. Cajal Institute, CSIC), was focused on characterizing the particular features that dictate the GABAergic signaling to astrocytes in prefrontal cortex. For this purpose, she was pioneering on using new optogenetic approaches to manipulate astrocyte calcium signaling and evaluate its impact in vivo. 

During her PhD, she visited recognized international laboratories, such as Dr. Ponomarenko’s lab (Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf, Germany) and Dr. Buzsaki’s lab (NYU Langone Health, NY, US), which extended her formation and interest in system neuroscience for a better understanding of neural circuits and behaviour. Following this keen interest to unravel the neuronal coding behind different behaviours, in 2020 she enrolled at The Sainsbury Wellcome, UK. At the Hofer Lab, she is now focused on the study of neuronal codification of instinctive reactions essential for animals' survival.  In particular, how perception of sensory inputs triggering defensive behaviour is shape in presence of other conflicting ethologically relevant signals (behavioural context) and how is tuned by expectation and previous knowledge.