Javier DeFelipe - Biography#

Javier DeFelipe is a research professor at the Instituto Cajal. His particular expertise lies in the correlation of electron microscopy data with the synaptic connectivity of neurons previously identified using functional markers, or by intracellular labelling. In 1991 he establish a research group at the Instituto Cajal that principally focuses on the microorganization of the normal cerebral cortex in various species and on the alterations of cortical circuits in epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. A particularly important event that occurred in his scientific career was in 2009, when his group was awarded the Cajal Blue Brain Project (CBBP) and since then he has being serving as the director of the CBBP. This project has made it possible to have a multidisciplinary team of more than 40 researchers (anatomists, physiologists mathematicians and computer scientists) and to create the Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales (CSIC/Universidad Politécnica Madrid). As a result of this project, several tools and new computational methods have been developed that represent an important technological contribution (https://cajalbbp.csic.es/the-project). These tools and methods include intracellular injection techniques, the integration and exploitation of microanatomical data and the development of a new FIB/SEM technology (double beam electron microscopy), which allows the ultrastructural study of large volumes of tissue in a semi-automatic way — essential technology for deciphering the synaptome. Another of his principalinterest is the study of the history of cortical histology and circuitry. He is also fascinated by the link between the study of the brain and art and he have been involved in organizing and curating numerous exhibitions around the world. He has written several articles, chapters and books on both this subject and the influence of Cajal in modern neuroscience. A full-length CV can be found here: https://t.ly/JIHmQ