Beatriz Rico is a professor of developmental neurobiology at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. Her research focuses on neural circuit development.

Early life and education

Beatriz was born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain, where she completed her public primary and secondary education. She then attended

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

to study biology, and earned her

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at the Autónoma University in Madrid under her supervisor Carmen Cavada. Following her time in Spain, she completed her

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

under her supervisor

Louis Reichardt Louis French Reichardt (born June 4, 1942) is a noted American neuroscientist and mountaineer, the first American to summit both Everest and K2. He was also director of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, the largest non-federal su ...

Principal investigator

Beatriz then formed her own lab focusing specifically on mammalian cortical networks and neurodevelopment disorders. Rico started as a Principal Investigator at the Neuroscience Institute in

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

, Spain. In 2014, Beatriz moved her lab to

where she is a professor of developmental neurobiology and has continued her work on mechanisms of cortical circuit formation. In recent years, her lab has spotlighted the importance of cortical

GABAergic In molecular biology and physiology, something is GABAergic or GABAnergic if it pertains to or affects the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). For example, a synapse is GABAergic if it uses GABA as its neurotransmitter, and a GABAergic ...

circuitry in cognitive function and their potential role in neurological pathologies, especially schizophrenia. Her team found a discovered a link between the protein called

Brevican Brevican core protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''BCAN'' gene. Brevican is a member of the lectican protein family. Brevican is localised to the surface of neurons in the brain. In melanocytic cells, BCAN gene expression may b ...

and short-term spatial memory. According to a study conducted by them, "By modulating Brevican levels, experience introduces precise molecular and cellular modifications in PV+ cells that are required for learning and memory." In 2019, the Rico Lab uncovered a developmental mechanism for specification of inhibitory connections within the brain. Rico worked with Emilia Favuzzi and Ruben Deogracias, who were lead authors of the ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' article on this discovery.

Awards and honors

In 2010, Rico's work received recognition from the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 2,100 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO). Additionally, she was awarded Consolidator and Advanced grants by the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

for her project 'Assembly and plasticity of inhibitory cortical networks by early learning experience'. This grant was awarded to Rico for research into how early sensory experiences affect efficiency of cortical networks and, ultimately behavior. Rico received a research grant from

Wellcome Wellcome ( zh, first=j, c=惠康, j=wai6 hong1, p=Huìkāng) is a supermarket chain owned by British conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings via its DFI Retail Group subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest super ...

, and she was granted lifelong membership to EMBO's community of scientists in 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rico, Beatriz Scientists from Madrid Academics of King's College London Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Spanish neuroscientists Complutense University of Madrid alumni Autonomous University of Madrid alumni