Pew Supports 10 Latin American Fellows Pursuing Scientific Advances

PHILADELPHIA—The Pew Charitable Trusts today announced the 2025 class of the Pew Latin American Fellows Program in the Biomedical Sciences.

The 10 postdoctoral fellows from five Latin American countries—Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico—will receive two years of funding to conduct research in laboratories throughout the United States. They will work under the mentorship of prominent biomedical scientists, including alumni from the Latin American fellows program and the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences.

“Scientific exchange and collaboration foster new discoveries that help advance human health for all,” said Donna Frisby-Greenwood, Pew’s senior vice president for Philadelphia and scientific advancement. “Pew is proud to support this outstanding group of young researchers, whose pursuits will help pave the way to biomedicine’s future.”

Fellows who choose to return to Latin America to launch their own research labs will receive additional funding from Pew. Nearly 70% of program participants have taken this path, which has helped cultivate a robust biomedical research community in Latin America.

Scientists in the 2025 class are exploring a range of research topics, including examining how brain tumors evolve to resist therapy, the ways in which immune cells reduce chronic pain during pregnancy, and how the nervous system rebuilds after injury.

“This new group of fellows embodies the curiosity and talent driving scientific innovation today,” said Eva Nogales, Ph.D., distinguished professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and chair of the program’s national advisory committee. “I am thrilled to welcome this outstanding group of Latin American researchers into our rich community, and I look forward to watching where their efforts lead.”

The 2025 Pew Latin American fellows and their U.S. mentors are:

Nicolás Cumplido Salas, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Sarah McMenamin, Ph.D.
Boston College
Nicolás Cumplido Salas, Ph.D., will explore the role that retinoic acid plays in the development of the zebrafish tail fin.

Marycruz Flores-Flores, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Christian Mosimann, Ph.D., MSc.
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Marycruz Flores-Flores, Ph.D., will explore how membrane potential—the distribution of ions across cell membranes that triggers various physiological functions—helps to orchestrate cardiac development.

Alex Inague, Ph.D.
Laboratory of James Olzmann, Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley
Alex Inague, Ph.D., will investigate the molecular pathways involved in the metabolism of selenium, an essential mineral, and evaluate their potential as therapeutic targets in cancer.

Juan Ispizua, Ph.D.
Laboratory of John C. Tuthill, Ph.D., 2019 Pew biomedical scholar
University of Washington
Juan Ispizua, Ph.D., will explore how the nervous system remodels itself in response to injury.

María Cecilia Lira, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Claire Vanpouille-Box, Ph.D.
Weill Cornell Medicine
María Cecilia Lira, Ph.D., will investigate how glioblastomas, a fast-growing type of brain tumor, develop resistance to radiation therapy by reprogramming their metabolism.

Beatriz de Moraes, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Allan Basbaum, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Beatriz de Moraes, Ph.D., will explore how immune cells can reduce chronic pain during pregnancy.

Lilian Gomes de Oliveira, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Arnold Kriegstein, M.D., Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Lilian Gomes de Oliveira, Ph.D., will explore how the Zika virus disrupts cerebral cortex development during the second trimester of pregnancy.

Horacio Martín Pallarés, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Ariel Bazzini, Ph.D., 2010 Pew Latin American fellow
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Horacio Martín Pallarés, Ph.D., will unravel the genetic networks essential for brain development and implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders by studying how Zika virus infection disrupts these processes.

Christian Arias Reyes, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Jan-Marino Ramirez, Ph.D.
Seattle Children’s Research Institute
Christian Arias Reyes, Ph.D., will investigate how brain cells adapt to reduced oxygen levels.

José Hernández Valle, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Gisela Storz, Ph.D.
National Institutes of Health
José Hernández Valle, Ph.D., will study how iron, a trace metal and essential micronutrient, is regulated and maintained at physiological levels in bacteria by the action of small RNAs.