Danira Toral-Rios, PhD

Dr. Danira Toral-Rios graduated from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she obtained her BSc degree in Bio-pharmaceutical Chemistry. Dr. Toral-Rios graduated with honors from the MSc Biology (Biomedicine) program at UNAM, where she studied genetic risk factors on Mexican patients with Alzheimer’s disease and won the Alfonso Caso award for the best thesis dissertation on her class. Dr. Toral-Rios continued her studies in the Alzheimer’s field, joining the PhD program in the Department of Physiology, Biophysics and Neuroscience of Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute, where she worked on identifying the role of immune response as a mechanism that amplifies the neurotoxicity effects of amyloid beta oligomers. As a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Dr. Anil Cashikar and Dr. Steven Paul at Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Toral-Rios is studying the immune role of cholesterol derivative metabolites in mouse models of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration.