I am an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia. 

I am originally from Catalonia, where I performed my Bachelor's in Biology and Master's in Neuroscience at the University of Barcelona. Afterward, I completed my Ph.D. at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia in Barcelona. Under Prof. José Antonio del Río's supervision, my thesis focused on the pathophysiological role of the Prion protein (PrP) in the central nervous system. On one side, we developed the first iPSC model from a patient with familial prionopathy associated with a PrP mutation. In this work, we reproduce a common comorbid pathology related to this disease, the Tauopathy, postulating PrP as a modulator of pathological Tau phosphorylation. In the project's second part, we described PrP's neuroprotective role in epilepsy by using kainate-based epileptogenic models in vitro and in vivo across different mouse models. Finally, we further characterized the effects of PrP deficiency on mouse behavior, memory, and hippocampal connectivity, combining in vitro calcium imaging with hippocampal electrophysiological recordings from awake mice. We also conducted behavioral tests to assess the consequences of PrP absence for learning and memory acquisition. Within this overall approach, we characterize PrP as a stabilizing protein that maintains synaptic integrity, regulates the maturation of neural connectivity, and is necessary for proper responses to excitatory insults. 

In 2020, I moved to Hamburg for my Postdoc in Markus Glatzel’s Lab (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, UKE). Here, I led and carried out my research focusing on the function of extracellular vesicles (EV) in Alzheimer's Disease (AD), gaining in 2021 the Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship: "The role of extracellular vesicles in Alzheimer's Disease: towards obtaining mechanistic insights into intrinsic protection mechanisms" (H2020_MSCA-IF_2020-101030402_EXOSOMES_AD) . Combining multi-omic analysis of EVs isolated from human postmortem tissue and in vitro iPSC-AD models (performed in a Secondment in the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, FAU, Germany), my project  was focused on the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in Alzheimer's Disease. EVs have been shown to trap Aβ, thereby reducing the load of Aβ-free oligomers and Aβ-mediated toxicity, thereby exerting neuroprotective effects. Conversely, EVs also enhance the propagation of Aβ and Tau aggregates, thus promoting disease progression. Combining multi-omic analysis and in vitro iPSC-AD models, we describe the composition of AD-EVs and the key proteins involved in their dual role in AD, with particular emphasis on PrP and its role in Aβ aggregation/spreading.

This research ended up with, so far, six peer-reviewed publications: i) a review of the potential of the extracellular PrP as a neuroprotective agent in brain pathologies (A. Matamoros-Angles, 2023); ii) a position statement publication from the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) about minimal guidelines in EV research (J. Welsh et al. 2024); iii) a paper describing a new approach to isolate EVs from brain tissue (A. Matamoros-Angles, 2024); iv) a publication to reinforce the role of PrP-EVs in Aβ aggregation (M. Shafiq et al. 2024); v and vi) two articles in the partner Journal of the German Society of EVs (GSEV), Trillium EVs, about our EV-Meeting in Hamburg (A. Matamoros-Angles et al., 2023) and a short review about EVs as biomarkers in Parkinson’s disease (A. Weiß et al., 2022). Now, I am currently preparing another publication describing the role of EVs on Aβ aggregation and amyloid plaque formation.

Now, I am starting my new research line at the Institut de Recerca i Innovació en Ciències de la Vida i de la Salut a la Catalunya Central (IRIS-CC).  Using in vitro iPSC-derived cultures (neurons, astrocytes, and microglia) and microfluidic devices, my project focuses on the role of EVs in cellular communication in Alzheimer's disease.