Tissue regeneration and homeostasis loss with a focus on the stromal and stem cell compartments
Osvaldo Contreras, MSc, PhD
Post-Doctoral Scientist, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Division, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Lowy Packer Building, 405 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, 2010, NSW, Australia
Conjoint Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Australia
Postdoctoral Fellow Osvaldo Contreras is a cell biologist and a biomedical researcher studying tissue regeneration and homeostasis loss in mammals with a focus on the stromal compartment. He graduated from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 2012 where studied the developmental role of the Wnt-PCP pathway and Syndecan-4 in neural tube closure and cochlear development under Prof. Juan Larrain's supervision. After completing his MSc degree, he received his PhD in cell and molecular biology in 2019. His PhD focused on tissue-resident fibro-adipogenic progenitor cell fate, plasticity, and heterogeneity in muscle regeneration and heart repair in Prof. Enrique Brandan's Lab at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile with the co-supervision of Prof. Fabio Rossi at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Since his PhD, Osvaldo has focused on comprehending myopathies and myogenic and fibroblast fate determination and differentiation in the context of fibro-fatty deposition, centering on three major signalling pathways: PDGF, TGF-b, and Wnt signalling, and their cross-talk.
As a Postdoctoral Scientist, Dr Contreras works on stem cell cell-based strategies for improving our understanding of heart development and repair under the supervision of Prof. Richard Harvey at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and holds a Conjoint Lecturer position at UNSW Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health. Osvaldo has successfully obtained >140,000 USD in Governmental Fellowships, Grants, and Awards as an early-career researcher and secured a substantial number of national and international collaborators and research networks. He has published 22 peer-reviewed articles with over 700 citations and H-index of 14.
Osvaldo is committed to advancing his field and serves as Guest Editor (Front. Cell Dev. Biol.) and reviewer of several leading international cell and molecular biology journals and international grants and fellowships. His research and leadership are recognised by his membership of different scientific societies and prizes, including the Hermann Niemeyer Medal for the best PhD student in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Chilean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2016, the prize for the best PhD thesis at his university, and the Humberto Maturana Romesín Prize from the Chilean Biological Society.
As an ECR, Dr Contreras is committed to promoting and advocating research and science culture and diversity and equity, being a member of the Postdoctoral Development Committee and Diversity Committee. He was recently selected as an eLife Community Ambassador and co-Chair founder of the IUBMB Trainee Initiative for promoting scientific activities and research culture internationally. Osvaldo career goals are to become a research group leader and advance our knowledge of the mechanisms regulating cellular plasticity, heterogeneity, and behaviour in different cell types and translate that knowledge into efficient medical applications.
My "First Person" interview from Journal of Cell Science offers a good glance about what I like, my research is about, and how much I enjoy being a scientist:
Link to the interview:
I hope you like stromal fibroblasts and mesenchymal progenitor cells as much as I do!
