Juan M. Encinas, Ph.D.
Young Investigator

Dr. Encinas received his B.S. in Biological Sciences (specialization in Neurobiology) from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) in 1999. He then joined Dr. Rodrigo Garcia’s lab of Neuanatomy and Cell Biology in the Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Neurobiologia (Cajal’s Institute) to carry out his Ph.D. estudies, graduating with honors in 2003. Dr. Encinas moved to Dr. Grigori Enikolopov’s lab in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for his postdoctoral training, with consecutive financial support from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Assotiation (CSHLA) and from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia de España (Spanish Ministry of Education and Science). His area of research in CSHL is the analysis of the neural stem cells of the adult brain in normal conditions, depression, and aging, using transgenic mice. In particular, he is investigating the neuroprogenitor cell targeted by different antidepressants to increase the generation of new neurons in the adult hippocampus, and what cellular mechanisms are involved. These studies provide useful insight about the mechanism of action of antidepressant therapies in the brain and about the possible relationship between adult neurogenesis and depression.

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