Ricardo Lozoya Email and Phone Number

Member of the Daneman Lab at UCSD, investigating the role of the blood-nerve barrier in health and disease.

As a Fulbright grantee, worked at the Institute for Human Genetics to uncover the morphological and functional effects of genetic copy number variations linked to neuropsychiaric disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and depression. Using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells as a model to study these afflictions.

Investigating the role of NMDA and GABA receptors in dendritic spine and synapse formation, as it pertains to the physiological response to ionizing radiation, such as that used in cancer therapies.

Explored the use of functional blocking antibodies to artificially, transiently, and safely induce blood-brain-barrier permeability in order to improve drug delivery options for neurological disease, and characterized their effectiveness using immunofluorescent imaging, lipid uptake assays, and in vivo injections into adult mice.

Using qRT-PCR and PCR mutagenesis in a mammalian cell model, elucidated the molecular consequence of increased CHRNA7 gene copy number, which has been associated with a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders including autism and schizophrenia.

Provided quality, gratuitous pre-hospital emergency medical care to the people within and neighboring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. In the process, learned about differences in healthcare systems across both sides of the border and was able to develop greater ingenuity and improvisational skills as “doing more with less” was necessary for the sake of every patient.