Arturo Alvarez-Buylla

Dr. Arturo Alvarez-Buylla is Professor of Neurological Surgery and Heather and Melanie Muss Endowed Chair at University of California, San Francisco He is also a Principal Investigator at the Brain Tumor Research Center. Dr. Alvarez-Buylla works in developmental neuroscience and stem cell neurobiology research, focusing on the fields of neural stem cells, developmental biology, developmental neuroscience, neurobiology, molecular and cellular neurobiology, and learning and plasticity. Two decades ago, the Alvarez-Buylla lab discovered that young neurons continue to migrate and incorporate into the brain's olfactory bulb. The discovery helped overturn long-held beliefs that new neurons could not be incorporated into the functioning circuits of an adult brain. Alvarez-Buylla, with several UCSF colleagues, is investigating the potential use of a particular type of cell derived from neural stem cells to inhibit the hyperactivity that occurs in the nervous system in several neurological conditions. The cells, known as embryonic medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) cells, inhibit the activity of other cells. Maintaining the balance between inhibitory and excitatory signaling in the nervous system is critical to normal neurological function. The work may be useful in developing treatments for epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, and spasticity after spinal cord injury. Alvarez-Buylla is an innovator and inventor as well as a scientist, and has designed a device for mounting tissue sections on histological slides, a digital stereotaxic apparatus for mice and songbirds, a computer-based mapping system for tissue sections, and a fluorescent staining technique. Dr. Alvarez-Buylla is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the International Brain Research Organization, the Society for Biochemistry, the Academia de Ciencias de America Latina, and the International Society for Stem Cell Research. His work has appeared in many journals including Nature, Cell, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Science.