Marcos Otero-Garcia, PhD

Changes in brain tissue architecture are fundamental to aging and disease. These intricated spatial patterns have limited our ability to decipher neurodegenerative processes. However, recent advances in single-cell and spatial omics methods present an opportunity to leap our understanding of the mechanisms behind neurodegenerative disease progression.

I am deeply interested in technological innovation and neurodegenerative diseases, particularly the development of spatial omics methods to study proteinopathies. During my postdoctoral training at UCLA and Stanford, we designed novel methods for unbiased single-cell probing of human brain tissue. Our approach revealed specific neuronal cell types susceptible to neurofibrillary tangles and the associated molecular signatures in Alzheimer’s Disease patients. However, single-cell sequencing protocols compromise the spatial context. By combining high-throughput molecular profiling with high-resolution imaging, we created spatial omics technologies capable of interrogating hundreds of targets in intact tissue sections. We applied them to the study of brain development and demyelination in both human samples and animal models.

I am currently focused on implementing and developing new spatial methods to map the cellular and molecular heterogeneity of the human brain during healthy aging and neurodegenerative disorders. My goal is to create innovative tools and valuable datasets to enhance our understanding of neurodegenerative processes, identify therapeutic targets, and improve human health.