Tissue regeneration and homeostasis loss with a focus on the stromal and stem cell compartments

Osvaldo is a cell biologist and biomedical researcher studying tissue regeneration and the breakdown of homeostasis, with a focus on the stromal and stem-cell compartments. As a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute — and a Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW Sydney — he investigates how the heart develops, repairs, and fails, using CRISPR mouse models, transgenic zebrafish, and pluripotent stem-cell strategies. His long-term goal is to understand the mechanisms governing cellular plasticity, heterogeneity, and behaviour, and to translate that knowledge into therapies that improve human health.

Research

Contreras's research centres on three signalling pathways — PDGF, TGF-β, and Wnt — and how they govern cell fate. He combines in vivo models (CRISPR mouse models and transgenic zebrafish) with pluripotent stem-cell approaches to advance understanding of heart development and repair. His earlier work established the fate, plasticity, and heterogeneity of fibro-adipogenic progenitor cells in muscle regeneration, and the determination and differentiation of myogenic and fibroblast cells in the context of fibro-fatty deposition and myopathy.

Training

Contreras earned his BSc (2012) and PhD in cell and molecular biology (2019) at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. As an undergraduate he studied the roles of the Wnt-PCP pathway and Syndecan-4 in neural tube closure and cochlear development with Prof. Juan Larraín. His PhD — in Prof. Enrique Brandan's laboratory, co-supervised by Prof. Fabio Rossi (University of British Columbia) — examined fibro-adipogenic progenitors in muscle regeneration and repair and received the Outstanding PhD Thesis Prize (2020). He then trained as a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Richard Harvey (FRS) at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.

Funding & awards

Contreras has secured more than A$5.5M as Chief Investigator in fellowships, grants, and awards, and has built extensive national and international collaborations and research networks. His work has been recognised with the Hermann Niemeyer Medal (2016), the Excellence in Doctoral Thesis Prize (2020), the Miltenyi Research Award (2022), the inaugural Rising Star Award from the Australian Society for Stem Cell Research (2022), the Humberto Maturana Romesín Prize from the Chilean Biological Society (2022), and the Rising Star Award at the Sydney Cardiovascular Symposium (2024).

Service

Contreras serves on the editorial boards of Biological Research, Differentiation, and Frontiers, and reviews for leading international journals and for national and international funding bodies. Committed to research culture, diversity, and equity, he has served on the Postdoctoral Development Committee (2021–2025, co-Chair) and the Diversity Committee (2020–2023), was selected as an eLife Community Ambassador (2022), and co-founded and co-chaired the IUBMB Trainee Initiative (2022–2023).