Research team

Esteban trained as a biochemist at Universidad Austral de Chile in Valdivia. He completed his undergraduate thesis under Felipe Barros at the Centro de Estudios Científicos (CECs), where he studied neuronal energy metabolism. He later moved to Santiago and worked with Juan Andrés Orellana on connexin- and pannexin-mediated glia–neuron communication.

In 2019, he entered the Ph.D. program in Biological Sciences, with a specialization in Physiology, at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Under Rodrigo Del Río’s supervision, his doctoral research examined how astrocytic glutamate transporters in the retrotrapezoid nucleus contribute to central chemoreflex potentiation and respiratory disturbances in a model of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

In mid-2025, he joined the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at Universidad Autónoma de Chile as an investigator and associate professor. In parallel, he is conducting postdoctoral research under Professor Rodrigo Iturriaga’s supervision.

Sinay is the lab manager of the Respiratory Neurodynamics Laboratory, led by Dr. Esteban Díaz Jara. Her background spans neurobiology and preclinical models of central nervous system myelin disorders, cardiorespiratory physiology, and translational medicine, with a particular interest in preventive medicine for healthy aging.

In the lab, she combines logistics and experimental planning with hands-on work in molecular biology, physiology, and microscopy. She also coordinates project priorities and experimental schedules.

Pablo holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and is an M.Sc. student in Neuroscience at Universidad Autónoma de Chile and a member of the laboratory. His research focuses on developing and using computational models to simulate and study the neuronal dynamics associated with respiratory functions. By combining computational physics and neuroscience, he seeks to model neuronal systems and analyze the activity patterns that regulate respiratory control.

Sebastián is a Chemistry and Pharmacy student at Universidad Autónoma de Chile and a member of the Respiratory Neurodynamics Laboratory. His research focuses on evaluating morphological remodeling of brainstem astrocytes and its contribution to the development of sleep-apnea-induced arterial hypertension. His experimental work involves acquiring confocal microscopy Z-stacks and digitally processing them to generate three-dimensional reconstructions for blinded analysis of astrocyte morphology.

Fernanda is a Chemistry and Pharmacy student at Universidad Autónoma de Chile and a member of the Respiratory Neurodynamics Laboratory. She contributes to blinded morphological analysis of astrocytes by operating confocal microscopy for Z-stack image acquisition and computationally processing three-dimensional astroglial reconstructions.