“We need to live well for many years, get healthy to be older”

Natalia López (Madrid, 1991) is a brilliant scientist who, in addition to being part of the doctoral program in Neuroscience at the Autonomous University, coordinates part of the research of the Integral Center of Neurosciences of the HM Porta de l ‘University Hospital South.

There he studies risk factors in populations most vulnerable to Parkinson’s disease. He works in a center dedicated to disorders of the pioneering movement in the world. Lopez is exceptional, with an excellent track record, especially for others (and society).

How do you define yourself?

I have always been told that I am very curious.

Is curiosity the basis of science for you?
The scientific career is a very good place for curious, restless people, who are looking for many things perhaps at once. That of “he who embraces much, achieves little” is not true: we must aspire very high in the spectrum, and then we will reduce.

And creativity?

I think so too, but like any psychological trait it can work. Usually, at first, as a student, you come in with a more defined line normally. Then there are more directors than those who take you and throughout the doctorate you develop these skills.

Is medicine your vocation?

[Se ríe] Being realistic I didn’t have – and maybe not even now have – a huge vocation compared to other people who know what they want to do from minute one. I loved literature, mathematics, engineering, medicine … and I found a way to unite all these concerns that I had.

In fact, in this center I have managed to unite many things because I have this part of engineering -even if it is lateral-, the most basic and most medical part -which is the one I like the most-, linguistics -for languages ​​and travel- and social through interaction with different people.

A recent obsession?

Parkinson’s and its treatment.

More specifically?

The entry of drugs into the central nervous system.

And, what is Parkinson’s?

Right now it is the most abundant neurodegenerative disease of motion disorder and as the population gets older and we live longer, it is considered to increase dramatically.

Why do you say it will increase so much in the coming years?

These diseases are of late onset: as the population ages, a higher incidence appeared, there will be many more cases. In addition, it is a very disabling disease from the most basic point of view.

As far as I am concerned, it is mainly characterized by the loss of neurons that are in a region of the brain called the substantia nigra. These neurons release a neurotransmitter, which is dopamine, whose functions include coordination of movements. For this reason we see patients who cannot control their movement activation pattern or have other non-motor disorders.

Is it a disease with a poor prognosis?

In short, it is a disease with a great impact. It completely invalidates the patient in the long run, is highly dependent on medication, and the worst part is that the patient becomes dependent and tolerant. In addition, the disease continues its course and, although we will mask its symptoms, we are not stopping it. If we discover its cure, it will also serve us for other neurodegenerative diseases.

Are we less healthy than a few years ago?

We are better off keeping healthy. The human being is used to being multitasking, To do homework, to be productive. We prioritize productivity and other things, and not take care of ourselves. And we need to live many years, but well, get healthy to grow up.

Can we talk about healthy habits?

The body-mind-habits axis is super important for everything. Sport, food, even the full attention they must be present, and all things that are beginning to arise now.

So what are the least unhealthy habits?

There is no one thing that causes everything. As in biology in general, many things add up and cause something. Substance use or sleep deprivation are factors that have always been studied that alter.

What exactly is your research on Parkinson’s?

Study populations vulnerable to Parkinson’s disease. What I do is study which populations have different markers or genes, which somehow make them either more vulnerable or vice versa, more resistant to degeneration into diseases like this.

How do you research?

with experiments [sonríe], I am lucky. From the most basic point of view I work with cell cultures, tissues, patient samples, markers … what is the pathological anatomy.

From a psychological point of view, I investigate more with tests of habits and experimental paradigms that allow us to see the failure of a certain region of the brain in relation to a certain behavior. Also with neuroimaging, positrons, MRIs, etc. to see which areas of the brain are activated and are most involved with certain behavior or disease.

And then there are many, thousands of paradigms, what neuroscience is trying to do is add up all these fields and try to integrate them into an experimentation that covers all points of view.

Are you committed to national or international research?

Here we have very good centers. Maybe we don’t realize so much about knowing. United States is the expert in marketing par excellence, but we have centers that are pioneers in lines of research.

Science is very cooperative, giving you different points of view precisely increases creativity. But we must not despise the centers of Spain because there are many, many good ones.

Who do you admire professionally?

For example, Margarita Salas seems to me a pioneer both as a woman and as a researcher. It is an example that can be made scientific career in Spain and very good, by very important women and totally key in Spanish science.

But also my mentors: the training of this center is thanks to Dr. José Obeso. It is not easy to find a person, especially a doctor, more dedicated to the clinical part who wants to create a center that combines the two things: the basic and experimental part with the clinical trial part and applied directly to the patient.

Is it still harder to be a woman in science?

This gender difference no longer exists, I believe. In my career we were the same proportion of women and men, and here in fact we are more girls than boys. At first it seems more vocational to women and then it is equalized. There is a lot to do, but it is improving a lot, at least I have not felt it as such in my personal experience.

The key to discoveries?

Patience, working gets things done. You don’t have to go very far, it’s more to look at the path, because you will get there, but the thing is to work and you can achieve it.

What is your (scientific) dream?

I would love to mentalize the population to start taking care of oneself in all aspects – body, mind, even training. Education, training well, understanding, knowing how to filter information – something so important in the pandemic, right? -, take care of your health, know that what you do affects the next, be a little more cooperative in general, do not stay so much in the bubble of each, but be more interdisciplinary in all aspects.

Natalia López (ODS 3): “We need to live well for many years, to reach a healthy age”

Quique Falcón

Natalia holds the ODS number 3 (health and wellness). Her biography could be summarized, and she does so herself, easily with the words biology – she studied Biology at the Autonomous University of Madrid -, Selva Negra – she explains that she left Erasmus at the University of Freiburg neuroscience and there he studied neuroanatomy-, and alpaca.

The latter refers to his stay in Chile, where he looked for antibodies that produce only two types of animals in the world: sharks and alpacas.

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