Over the past 18 months, the ICGEB Molecular Pathology laboratory in Trieste, Italy, has been pursuing an ambitious project led by Dr. Diana Eva Bedolla Orozco, recipient of a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship funded by the European Union.
A graduate in physics from the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Mexico, and a PhD in Neuroscience from the International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA), Dr. Bedolla formulated a project to explore frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other neurodegenerative diseases through vibrational spectroscopy: a technique used to characterise and identify compounds by revealing information about their composition, bonding, and other properties. The project was entitled #IR4FTD.
Collaborating with the ICGEB in Trieste and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, Dr. Bedolla set out to unravel novel insights into these debilitating conditions by looking for spectral fingerprints in biofluids, with the final aim to develop a screening tool to decrease the costs of current diagnosis.
Dr. Bedolla confirms “the foundations to start scanning people affected by neurodegenerative diseases have been laid to start building models on different diseases, and two joint scientific publications are in progress”. An expert in infrared spectroscopy, Dr. Bedolla is now working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, University of California, USA to advance her research through synchrotron light source capabilities and expertise to a broad scientific community.
“Some of the methodologies for FTD will also be used with ALS and will lead to new models that can help with the screening of the disease”. To date, her experience has included numerous science institutes in Trieste (the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, ICTP, the International School of Advanced Studies, SISSA, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, and Area Science Park), and she continues to aspire to develop point-of-care diagnostics and shape the forefront of neuroscientific research.
