Erkizia-Santamaría, Ines

Biography

Ines Erkizia Santamaría finished her Degree in Pharmacy (Graduated with Excellence) in 2019 at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. She was awarded with an Erasmus+ fellowship (2018) to complete one term at University College Cork (UCC, Ireland), and received an Erasmus+ Quality Award (Spanish Service for the Internationalisation of Education, 2019). She completed her End of Degree Project titled Neurochemical evaluation of brain monoamines in an animal model of schizophrenia with honours at the Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group (UPV/EHU). She continued her training and pursued a PhD in Pharmacology at the Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group (UPV/EHU), thanks to a competitive predoctoral fellowship obtained in 2020 (PIF19/308) under the supervision of Dr. Jorge E. Ortega and Dr. Igor Horrillo. Her Doctoral Thesis, titled Study of the mechanism of action of the hallucinogenic 5-HT2A receptor agonist psilocybin and evaluation of antidepressant-like effects in mice has been approved for defence with International Recognition and is scheduled to be defended shortly (20/06/2024). During her PhD, she has developed a wide variety of scientific skills, including behavioural assessments, generation of animal models of psychiatric disease, such as a model of cognitive impairment associated to schizophrenia and a chronic stress-based model of depression, in vivo brain microdialysis in awake rodents, liquid chromatography equipment (HPLC, UHPLC), and in vitro assays (ELISA, radioligand binding studies, qPCR, Western blot). During this period, she has completed an international predoctoral rotation in Dr. Yi Zuo’s laboratory at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), thanks to a travel grant (MOV22/16 EEUU, UPV/EHU), and has acquired skills in the assessment of in vivo neuroplasticity through two-photon transcranial microscopy. Currently, an ongoing collaboration between the applicant group at UPV/EHU and professor Zuo’s lab is striving to decipher the effects of psilocybin on cortical neuroplasticity, and a manuscript is in preparation. During the predoctoral phase, she has published two articles in indexed journals (both Q1), one as first author (D1, Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, IF: 7.5 -2022-), and has one more, currently under review (first author, Q1). She has contributed to 12 national or international congresses in the fields of neuroscience and pharmacology (9 as first author), two of them selected for oral presentation, one national (Ikergazte, 2021) and one international (European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2021). She has participated in several projects funded by national and European entities, including three projects tightly linked to her PhD, one by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Evaluation of the antidepressant mechanism of action of the 5-HT2A receptor agonist psilocybin in an animal model of depression, DEPREpsil), one by the Basque Government Health Department (Identification of new plasma biomarkers associated with depression. Preclinical validation of their response to new therapeutic strategies based on the administration of esketamine and psilocybin), and one by the Fundación Vital Fundazioa (Evaluation of the antidepressant mechanism of action of the hallucinogenic 5-HT2A receptor agonist psilocybin in an animal model of depression). She is part of an ongoing collaboration with the University of Clermont Auverge, France (Tryptophan: a modulating factor in the antimigraine efficacy of tryptans). Additionally, she has participated in scientific outreach activities, such as talks, seminars, interviews and programmes for the promotion of women in science.
Ines Erkizia Santamaría has also participated in teaching activities in the Degree in Pharmacy in the UPV/EHU, and has mentored students through development of End of Degree Projects and Master’s Thesis, under the supervision of Dr. J. Ortega. She herself engages in continuous training activities, through courses to strengthen and further specialize her scientific skills, especially in the area of animal care (she is qualified for animal research since 2020, functions B and C), and attending seminars on transversal skills such as scientific writing and English language for academia. Additionally she has several language certificates, including C2 level in English (Certificate of Proficiency in English), C1 level in Basque (Euskararen Gaitasun Agiria), and B2 level in French (Diplôme d’études en langue française, B2).