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Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, Alex graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, where he researched novel biodegradable three-dimensional scaffolds for use in cartilage tissue engineering. He then joined the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA for graduate studies, working in Leona Samson's laboratory. His Ph.D. research focused on understanding why some individuals develop cancer or degenerative diseases while others remain healthy, particularly investigating cellular DNA repair capacity. Subsequently, Alex joined Gene Yeo’s laboratory at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) as a postdoctoral fellow, examining the effects of nucleic acid damage on RNA Binding Protein (RBP) biology in the context of neurodegenerative diseases, autism, and cancer treatment. During his time at the Yeo Lab, he established single-cell technologies to study RNA-RBP interactions. Alex is passionate about mentoring at various stages of his career, and he credits his own mentors as integral to his development as a person and a scientist.
University of California, San Diego • La Jolla, CA
Leading the Chaim Lab focused on examining molecular basis of nucleic acid damage.
Administered by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Curricular groups include Climate-Ocean-Atmosphere (COAP), Geosciences (GEO), and Ocean Biosciences (OBP).