Beatriz Rico is a professor of

developmental neurobiology ''Developmental Neurobiology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of neural development. It was established in 1969 as ''Journal of Neurobiology'', covering all of neuroscience, but when the scope become more specia ...

at King's College London. Her research focuses on neural circuit development.

Early life and education

Beatriz was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Spain, where she completed her public primary and secondary education. She then attended

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...

to study biology, and earned her

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

at the Autónoma University in Madrid under her supervisor Carmen Cavada. Following her time in Spain, she completed her

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...

under her supervisor Louis Reichardt.

Principal investigator

Beatriz then formed her own lab focusing specifically on mammalian cortical networks and neurodevelopment disorders. Rico started as a Principal Investigator at the Neuroscience Institute in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

, Spain. In 2014, Beatriz moved her lab to King's College London where she is a professor of developmental neurobiology and has continued her work on mechanisms of cortical circuit formation. In recent years, her lab has spotlighted the importance of cortical GABAergic circuitry in cognitive function and their potential role in neurological pathologies, especially schizophrenia. Her team found a discovered a link between the protein called

Brevican Brevican core protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''BCAN'' gene. Brevican is a member of the lectican protein family. Brevican is localised to the surface of neurons in the brain A brain is an organ that serves as the cent ...

and short-term spatial memory. According to a study conducted by them, "By modulating Brevican levels, experience introduces precise molecular and cellular modifications in PV+ cells that are required for learning and memory." In 2019, the Rico Lab uncovered a developmental mechanism for specification of inhibitory connections within the brain. Rico worked with Emilia Favuzzi and Ruben Deogracias, who were lead authors of the ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

'' article on this discovery.

Awards and honors

In 2010, Rico's work received recognition from the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO). Additionally, she was awarded Consolidator and Advanced grants by the European Research Council for her project 'Assembly and plasticity of inhibitory cortical networks by early learning experience'. This grant was awarded to Rico for research into how early sensory experiences affect efficiency of cortical networks and, ultimately behavior. Rico received a research grant from

Wellcome Wellcome () is a supermarket chain owned by British conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings via its DFI Retail Group subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being Park ...

, and she was granted lifelong membership to EMBO's community of scientists in 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rico, Beatriz Scientists from Madrid Academics of King's College London Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Spanish neuroscientists Complutense University of Madrid alumni Autonomous University of Madrid alumni