Cristina Martinez Gonzalez

My research combines optical clearing with whole-brain light-sheet microscopy to identify neuronal circuit alterations in rodent models of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr Cristina Martínez González

Research Fellow

Hugh Robson Building

15 George Square

Edinburgh, EH8 9XD

Contact details

Email: cristina.martinez-gonzalez@ed.ac.uk

SIDB Website: SIDB.org

LSM3D: Light-Sheet Microscopy and 3D Analysis    

Personal profile

  • 2017-present: Post-doctoral research fellow, Simons Initiative for the Development Brain (SIDB), University of Edinburgh
  • 2016-2016: Visiting Post-doctoral fellow at Prof. Catherina Becker’s group, University of Edinburgh
  • 2013-2016: Post-doctoral scientist at Prof. Gregoire Courtine’s group, EPFL, Switzerland
  • 2007-2012: D.Phil in Neurosciences, University of Oxford, UK
  • 2004-2006: M.Sc. in Biochemistry, UNAM, Mexico
  • 2000-2004: B.Sc. in Basic biomedical research, UNAM, Mexico

Research

My research aims to understand the mechanisms underlying ASD. I use neuronal activity markers combined with optical tissue clearing and light-sheet microscopy to map hyper- or hypo-activated neurons in the entire brain.

Light-sheet images of intact mouse brains

Light-Sheet Microscopy and 3D Analysis (LSM3D)

A light-sheet microscopy imaging and 3D analysis facility based at the University of Edinburgh that is open to everyone in the research community.

What do we do:

  • Tissue processing (optical clearing including RatDISCO, histology and immunolabelling)
  • Imaging of whole/intact tissue using 3D light-sheet microscopy
  • 3D image analysis and figures (FIJI, QUINT, ARIVIS)

Plus:

  • Scope for developing new correlative imaging technologies, viral tracing and light-sheet microscopy.
  • Collaborative writing and figures for grants and funding applications.

Relevant Publications

RatDISCO, a new clearing and immunolabeling protocol for large brains. Martinez-Gonzalez C*., Craigie, K*., Till, S., Van De Gevel,B., Kind, P., Rochefort, N., Duguid, I., Nolan, M.F. In preparation.

Excessive proteostasis contributes to pathology in Fragile X Syndrome. Louros*, SR., Seo, S.S*., Maio, B, Martinez-Gonzalez, C., Gonzalez-Lozano, M.A., Muscas, M., Verity, N.C., Wills, J.C., Wan Li,K., Nolan, M.F., Osterweil, E.K. Neuron. 2023 Feb 15;111(4):508-525.e7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36495869/

Medial septal GABAergic neurons reduce seizure duration upon optogenetic closed-loop stimulation. Hristova K*., Martinez-Gonzalez C*., Watson TC*,. Codadu, N., Hashemu,K., Kind, P., Nolan, M.F., Gonzalez-Sulser, A. Brain 22;144(5). *Indicates equal first-authorship contribution. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awab042 

Multi-pronged neuromodulation therapies engaging the residual motor circuitry to enable walking after spinal cord injury. Bonizzato, M., Pidpruzhnykova, G., Pavlova, N., Shkorbatova, P., Martinez-Gonzalez, C., DiGiovanna, J., Barraud, Q., Micera, S., and Courtine, G. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1925. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22137-9 

Cortico–reticulo–spinal circuit reorganization enables functional recovery after severe spinal cord contusion. Asboth, L*., Friedli, L*., Beauparlant, J*., Martinez-Gonzalez, C*., Anil, S., Rey, E., Baud,L., Pidpruzhnykova, G., Anderson, M.A., Shkorbatova, P., Batti, L., Pages, S., Kreider, J., Schneider, B.L., Barraud, Q., and Courtine. G. Nature Neuroscience, 21(4), 576-588. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0093-5 

Stellate cells in the medial entorhinal cortex are required for spatial learning. Tennant, S.A., Fischer, L., Garden, D.L.F., Gerlei, K.S., Martinez-Gonzalez, C., McClure, C., Wood, E.R., and Nolan, M.F. Cell Reports 22(5), 1313–1324. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2018.01.005 

Divergent motor projections from the pedunculopontine nucleus are differentially regulated in Parkinsonism (2014). Martinez-Gonzalez, C., Micklem, B., van Andel, J., Bolam, J.P. & Mena-Segovia, J. Brain structure and function, 219(4), 1451–1462.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-013-0579-6

Subpopulations of cholinergic, GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus contain calcium-binding proteins and are heterogeneously distributed. Martinez-Gonzalez, C., Wang. H-L., Micklem, B., Bolam, J.P. & Mena-Segovia, J. European Journal of Neuroscience, 35(5), 723-734. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08002.x

Topographical Organization of the pedunculopontine nucleus. Martinez-Gonzalez, C., Bolam, J.P. & Mena-Segovia, J. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, 5:22-31.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnana.2011.00022/full

SoapBox Edinburgh 2024. https://sway.cloud.microsoft/1jfpCY1aGOFaXMb7?ref=Link

SoapBox Brighton 2023. https://soapboxsciencebrighton.github.io/2023/#cristina

Pint of Science speaker at the national postdoc appreciation week (NPAW2021).


Invention disclosure: RatDISCO a new immunolabelling and clearing protocol for intact brain tissue (2023). Application EI0000698, University of Edinburgh, UK. 


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