Juliana Acosta-Uribe

Biography

I received my MD degree from the University of Antioquia (Colombia) in 2013. After graduating I spent the next three years working as sub investigator in the Neuroscience Group of Antioquia (GNA), where I performed clinical research in patients with genetic neurodegenerative diseases, mainly Alzheimer's Disease due to mutations in PSEN1 gene. I was a clinical instructor in the University of Antioquia School of Medicine (2014-2016) before moving to UCSB.

Research

The Colombian population is a three-way admixture of European, Amerindian, and African populations. The proportions of the admixture show great variation over relatively small geographic sectors; multiple founder effects and “mini-bottlenecks” have resulted in numerous autosomal dominant conditions in the population, including the largest kindred in the world with autosomal dominant AD. I use bioinformatic methods to explore the genetic background of neurodegenerative diseases in Colombian population, focusing in Alzheimer’s disease, Frontotemporal dementia and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.