Álvaro Santana Garrido

I'm a postdoctoral researcher in Retina-Kvanta and André's research group at the St. Erik Eye Hospital (Karolinska Institutet) financed by the Alfonso Martín Escudero Foundation. I 

My PhD work presented promising findings on the use of acebuchina oil as a retinoprotective nutraceutical agent in arterial hypertension, and the development of an ophthalmic formulation of this oil in the form of nanoemulsions. My predoctoral stage was funded by the University Teaching Aid (FPU) and a competitive project of the Spanish state plan. I completed two predoctoral mobilities at the St. Erik Eye Hospital of the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) and a short stay at the University of Alcalá, which allowed me to incorporate cutting-edge techniques into our research group and initiate a new line of research focused on the visual physiology. On the other hand, my early postdoctoral stage has been funded by a project of Excellence from the Junta de Andalucía (Spain), and it has been focused on the use of extracellular vesicles for the understanding and treatment of vascular retinopathies. 

At present, I'm learning about cell therapies against macular degeneration based on the modulation of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) thanks to my training in the Retina Kvanta-André's research group at KI. 

Regarding teaching, I participated in teaching the Physiology department at the University of Seville. During that time, I co-supervised 3 master’s theses, published teaching articles, presented educational communications to congresses, and taught in Courses Agreed with Foreign Universities.

As the person responsible for teaching innovation projects, I was awarded the Innovation in Teaching Physiology 2022 Award from the SECF for the social network project (@fisiofarma_us), and have developed various materials including practical videos, 3D models of the human eye, and Genially-type electronic book.