Biographical note

Dr. Silvia V. Conde is Professor of Pharmacology and Neuroscience and Principal Investigator at NOVA Medical School (NMS) . She graduated in Biochemistry in 2000 and has an Advanced Specialization Diploma in Physiology in 2005. As a PhD student under supervision of Prof. C. Gonzalez in Valladolid (Spain) and Emilia Monteiro (Portugal), she tried to understand how cells and the body respond to the lack of O2, through the study of the physiology of the carotid body. She pursued her PhD in Pharmacology from both the New University of Lisbon (Portugal) and the University of Valladolid (Spain) in 2007. Afterwards, she realized that for her the most exciting research involves trying to understand the pathophysiological alterations in the carotid body and in autonomic nervous system function that are in the genesis of cardiometabolic and respiratory Human diseases. As a PI, she developed a new line of research on the carotid body (CB) and dysmetabolism, which is based on the pioneering idea that the CB controls glucose homeostasis. She is dedicated to the characterization of pathophysiological biosignals, disease signatures and fingerprints that will allow the identification of targets for therapy, particularly bioelectronic targets, as her group recently described that high frequency electrical stimulation of carotid sinus nerve restores insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis in type 2 diabetes models. Her research in this field originated 2 patents, being one already licensed.

In 2009 she was awarded with the L’Oreal Medals Honor for Women in Science Portugal and since then her group won several prizes from the Portuguese Society of Diabetes and from the Pulido Valente Foundation. Silvia V. Conde lab is funded by grants from the Portuguese Funding Agency (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) and from Galvani Bioelectronics.

Dr. Rodrigo Iturriaga obtained the degree of Doctor in Physiological Sciences, at the P. Catholic University of Chile (1988) and subsequently made a postdoctoral stay in the Department of Physiology of the University of Pennsylvania, USA (1989-1992). He began his academic career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the P. Universidad Católica de Chile (1992), where he is currently Full Professor and Chairman. He teach physiology medical students and PhD. postgraduate in of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the P Catholic University, where he has directed the doctoral theses of 12 graduates. His area of interest is the neurobiology of arterial chemoreceptors and his participation in the physiological and pathological responses induced by intermittent hypoxia. He is the author of more than 130 ISI publications and book chapters. He received the John F. Perkins Jr. Memorial Fellowship Award, from the American Physiological Society, USA (1989), the Francis B. Parker Fellowship for postgraduate studies in Respiratory Physiology, USA(1992), the Young Scientists Reintegration Scholarship of the Andes Foundation (1992), the Ferdinando Data Foundation Incentive Award for Young Researcher in Arterial Chemoreception, of the International Society for Arterial Chemoreception (1993) and the 2008 teaching excellence award from the P. Universidad Católica de Chile. He is a member of several scientific societies including the American Physiological Society, the Society for Neuroscience, Sociedad Española de Ciencias Fisiologicas and Sociedad Chilena de Ciencias Fisiologicas.

Dr. Rodrigo Del Rio is Professor of Physiology at the Biological Sciences Faculty of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He obtained his graduate degree in Physiology under the supervision of Dr. Rodrigo Iturriaga and then travel overseas to the United States of America, to be trained as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the area of neural control of cardiovascular and respiratory regulation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center under supervision of Dr. Harold Schultz.  My current research goals are to understand the physiology and molecular signaling underpinning the alterations in the neural control of cardiovascular and respiratory function during disease conditions. Dr. Del Rio´s expertise is related to the physiology of peripheral and central chemoreceptors and their contribution to autonomic imbalance, cardiovascular malfunction and respiratory disorders in pathological states (i.e. heart failure, hypertension and sleep apnea). Dr. Del Rio has received several awards for his research including an Early Career Investigator Award from the Neural Control of Autonomic Regulation section of the American Physiology Society and the New Investigator Award from the American Physiology Society. Dr. Del Rio will be the next president of the International Society of Chemoreceptors 2022-2025.

Dr. Estelle Gauda is a Professor of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, and Senior Associate Scientist in Translational Medicine at the Sickkids Research Institute in Toronto, Ontario.   She obtained her M.D. from the University of Iowa in 1982 and completed a residency in Pediatrics at St. Louis Children's Hospital in 1985 followed by a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Case Western University.  She is board-certified in Pediatrics and Perinatal-Neonatal Medicine. In 1988, Dr. Gauda joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins and had a successful 29 year career as a physician-scientist.  In 2017, she was appointed Head to the Division of Neonatology, and awarded Women’s Auxiliary Chair of Neonatology at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario.  Dr. Gauda has clinical expertise in perinatal-neonatal care of the high risk newborn and a solid research portfolio investigating mechanisms that control breathing during development with a focus maturation of the carotid body. She has described how postnatal development effects the expression of different excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters/neuromodulators in the carotid body, and how prenatal/perinatal exposure to nicotine, hyperoxia and inflammation modifies this expression and its downstream effects on breathing and chemosensitivity to hypoxia and hypercapnia. Dr. Gauda is past president of the International Society of Chemoreceptors. 2014-2017.