BCL2 Protein Family: Essential Regulators of Cell Death

About

Claudio Hetz received his BA in Biotechnology Engineering from the University of Chile in 2000. In his PhD work with Claudio Soto at Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute Geneva he showed that Prion pathogenesis involves endoplasmic reticulum stress responses and apoptosis. In 2004 he joined as a postdoctoral fellow Stanley Korsmeyers lab at DanaFarber Cancer Institute a pioneer in the apoptosis field. Together they discovered new functions of the BCL2 family in organelle physiology. Dr. Hetz followed his projects in Laurie Glimchers lab at Harvard. During this period he expanded his studies on neurodegeneration addressing the connection between apoptosis and the unfolded protein response in vivo. Since 2007 he is an Assistant Professor at the University of Chile and adjunct professor at Harvard. His lab uses animal models to investigate the signaling responses involved in protein misfolding disorders and the role of the BCL2 protein family in stress conditions. He was recently awarded with the TWASROLAC Young Scientist Prize also as finalist with the Eppendorf and Science Award in Neurobiology and other important recognitions.