I received both my undergraduate and PhD degrees in Biology from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Argentina. During my graduate studies in Prof. Julia Cambiasso’s lab (INIMEC-CONICET, UNC), I studied the relative contributions of estrogen and the X and Y sex chromosomes in the sexual differentiation of the hypothalamus. My work was focused specifically on X-linked genes involved in neuronal growth and differentiation as key processes in the development of sex-specific neuronal circuits.
This research was enriched by two short stints undertaken in Prof. Luis Miguel Garcia-Segura’s lab in Madrid, Spain, and with the support of an EMHE-CSIC Program fellowship. After finishing my PhD studies, I was also awarded grants from Fundación Carolina and the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) for a brief postdoc investigating the regulation of hypothalamic neuronal subtype specification by the X-linked gene Kdm6a in Dr. M. Angeles Arevalo’s lab at the Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Spain. I have recently joined Prof. Ingraham’s lab aiming to investigate how estrogen-sensitive projections from the hypothalamus modulate hindbrain function to affect overall arousal in females.
X-linked histone H3K27 demethylase Kdm6a regulates sexually dimorphic differentiation of hypothalamic neurons. Cabrera Zapata LE, Cisternas CD, Sosa C, Garcia-Segura LM, Arevalo MA, Cambiasso MJ. Cell Mol Life Sci (2021) 78(21- 22):7043-7060. PMID: 34633482. doi: 10.1007/s00018-021-03945-0
Estradiol-dependent axogenesis and Ngn3 expression are determined by XY sex chromosome complement in hypothalamic neurons. Cisternas CD, Cabrera Zapata LE, Arevalo MA, Garcia-Segura LM, Cambiasso MJ. Sci Rep (2020)2 - 4 10(1):8223. PMID: 32427857. doi: 10.1038/s41598- 020-65183-x
Gonadal hormone‐independent sex differences in GABAA receptor activation in rat embryonic hypothalamic neurons. Mir FR, Wilson C, Cabrera Zapata LE, Aguayo LG, Cambiasso MJ. Br J Pharmacol (2020) 177(13):3075-3090. PMID: 32133616. doi: 10.1111/bph.15037
Estradiol-mediated axogenesis of hypothalamic neurons requires ERK1/2 and ryanodine receptors-dependent intracellular Ca2+ rise in male rats. Cabrera Zapata LE, Bollo M, Cambiasso MJ. Front Cell Neurosci (2019) 13:122. PMID: 31001087. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2019.00122
Regulation of aromatase expression in the anterior amygdala of the developing mouse brain depends on ERβ and sex chromosome complement. Cisternas CD, Cabrera Zapata LE, Arevalo MA, Garcia-Segura LM, Cambiasso MJ. Sci Rep (2017) 7(1):5320. PMID: 28706210. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-05658-
2021 SEGIB - Fundación Carolina fellowship (Spain) and IBRO-LARC exchange fellowship (International)
2018-2019 - “Enhancing Mobility in Health and Environment between Latin-American and Caribbean countries and Europe” (EMHE) Program, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
2014 - “Estímulo a las Vocaciones Científicas” Fellowship, Consejo Interuniversitario Nacional, Argentina
2013 - “Cuarto Centenario” Program Exchange Fellowship, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
2009-2014 - “Bicentenario” Fellowship to Engineering and Science students at a public university in Argentina, Ministry of Education of Nation, Fellowships Program