Sandra Gonzalez

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Project Update 14.04.2020

Current activities/Accomplishments:

I have already finished my Ph.D. on the 6th of September 2019, but I continue to write an article about this project. Prof. Paul Avan from the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France has been my supervisor during my thesis. During my Ph.D., I developed a new method to measure the intracranial pressure using the ear. Subjects have been tested in France and Netherlands (in collaboration with Prof. Pim Van Dijk). This research has the potential to increase the quality of life of patients who must undergo invasive interventions to measure their intracranial pressure.

Parallel to this, I am involved in a business creation related to this study.

Future plans:

I have just started a postdoctoral fellowship in the field of neuroscience and motor behavior, where I am learning new techniques and applicating the knowledge I have acquired during my Ph.D. In the next years, my goal will be to prove a new treatment for ischemia, which will improve the hospital protocols that take place when a person is affected by this disease.

My EGRET+ Experience:

The opportunity to work alongside leading researchers in the field of neurosciences and hearing and to be part of the EGRET+ project open to me doors in my future as a scientist. Be part of a European project make me increase my international collaborations. My internship in the industry has given me experience in the field of business. This project helps me to improve my skills as independency or making decisions. I feel happy to have been in interdisciplinary networking, which has taught me to integrate different points of view. In general, my Ph.D. made me grow up not only in a professional way but also as a person, giving to me the possibility of understanding different cultures and the importance of teamwork.

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Evaluation of non invasive intracranial pressure technology for use in glaucoma

Supervisors:

Prof. Paul Avan (http://pharmacie.u-clermont1.fr/biophysique.html)

Background and Interests

My name is Sandra González Torrecilla. I am from Cádiz (Andalucía, Spain). I have a degree in Psychology (5 years) I spend the three first years at the University of Málaga (Spain) and the two last years at the University of Padova (Italy). In Italy, I did my traineeship in the field of drug addiction and family therapy in the “Ospedale di Salute Mentale di Padova” and I also did a traineeship in the field of childhood neuropsychiatry in the “Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova“. After that, I decided to do a Master’s Degree in Neurosciences (2 years) at the Faculty of Seville (Spain) where I made a project about the effects of endocannabinoids to reverse the symptoms of schizophrenia in rats named: “Long-term effects after cannabis pre-exposition in adolescent rats”. I also participated in another projects like: “Long-term effects after methamphetamine pre- exposition in adolescent rats”, “Neuroprotective effects of endocannabinoids in neonatal ischemia-hypoxia in mice”, “Changes in the p-300 wave to auditory tones in a simulated driving experiment in humans”, “The impairment of cognitive function in multiple sclerosis and the P-300 wave in humans” and “Conditioned evaluative responses assessing the CNV and P300 waves in humans”.

I am interested in the neurobiology and neurological diseases. Moreover, I am interested in brain’s cognitive functions and their neurological basis,  such the development of the language/s in the brain and her relationship with the attention system, the hearing, and the other senses. My aim it is investigate to improve the people quality of life.  

Aim of the project

One goal of the current project is to establish the part played by the difference between intraocular pressure (IOP) and the intracranial pressure (ICP), that is, the pressure gradient over the lamina cibrosa, in the pathophysiology of glaucoma. A possibly relevant factor of normal tension glaucoma (NTG), which develops in the absence of elevated IOP, might be a lower than average ICP. As the use of invasive ICP assessment via a spinal tap would be unethically risky, we plan to noninvasively evaluate ICP through the ear. Currently, available technology only allows ICP changes to be measured. The first part of the project will be to characterize noninvasively measured ICP changes e.g. with body tilt, or from one day to the next, in patients suffering from clinically proven, lower-than-normal ICP, as compared with normal subjects. In the second part of the project, patients with NTG will be enrolled and their ICP monitored according to the previously established protocol. This will provide insight into the etiology of NTG and ultimately, facilitate treatment decisions in the patients under concern.

Personal links:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sandragonzaleztorrecilla