Camila Vicencio Esguerra

Current Positions

12/2014 – present: Group Leader, Chemical Neuroscience Group, Biotechnology Centre of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo

01/2015 - present: Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo

Academic Interests

- Novel molecular mechanisms underlying neurological disorders (e.g. Epilepsy, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer´s)

• Pharmacoresistance
• Seizure initiation (ictogenesis)
• Seizure progression (epileptogenesis)
• Comorbidities (e.g. cognitive and locomotor impairment, SUDEP (Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy Patients))

- Disease modeling in Zebrafish

- Influence of drug exposure on neural development

- Early-stage, preclinical drug discovery

• Chemical Biology
• In vivo, medium- to high-throughput chemical modifier screens
• Natural product discovery
• Pharmacological analysis of bioactive compounds
• Toxicological assessment of drugs and potential therapeutic small-molecules
• Mode of action/target identification of therapeutic lead compounds

Background

Research:

University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium:

10/2008 – 11/2014: 

• Senior Scientist and Industrial Research Fellow, Laboratory for Molecular Biodiscovery, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacology
• Founder and Manager, Chemical Genetics Initiative @ KU Leuven
• Project Coordinator, PharmaSea (EU FP7 Project, 2012-2014)                               

08/2006 – 01/2008:

• Postdoctoral fellow, Laboratory of Catherine Verfaillie, Interdepartmental Stem Cell Institute                      

08/2006 – 01/2008:

• Postdoctoral fellow, Laboratory of Frank Luyten, Laboratory for Skeletal Development and Joints, Department of Musculoskeletal Sciences                         

02/2003 – 04/2006: 

• Senior Scientist and Doctoral Candidate, Laboratory of Desiré Collen, Molecular Cardiovascular Medicine Group, Faculty of Medical Sciences

Teaching:

2015 – present: 

Lecturer, School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Norway; Organic Chemically-Based Drug Design

01/2004 – 11/2014:

Lecturer, Biomedical Sciences Group, University of Leuven, Belgium; Principles of Genetics, Model Systems in Research, Laboratory Animal Science

Education:

02/2003-07/2007: Doctor of Medical Sciences (PhD), University of Leuven, Belgium

09/1992-08/1994: Master of Philosophy (MPhil) (Developmental Genetics)

• Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany
• MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London, United Kingdom
• Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

09/1986-06/1990: Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences (BA), Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA

Current collaborations

DigiBrain

Nor-Openscreen

PharmaTox

Press clippings

Zebrafish; a see-though favourite with researchers (Uniforum, in Norwegian)

Selected publications (pdf)