Dr Eduardo Albornoz Balmaceda
Research Fellow/Senior Research officer
School of Biomedical Sciences
Eduardo completed his PhD studies in October 2018 in collaboration with Prof Matthew Cooper at the Institute for Molecular Biosciences (IMB). He is currently extending his research within the Woodruff Lab which studies Neuroinflammation at the School of Biomedical Sciences. His research focuses on the pharmacological targeting of the innate immune response during neurodegeneration.
Researcher biography
Dr. Albornoz is an early career researcher who has training in neuroscience, immunology, and pharmacology. Prior to migrating to Australia, he completed a bachelor's in Biochemistry followed by a master's degree in Chile, he then gained experience working in Chile as a research assistant in the Millennium Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, focusing on neurodegeneration and the immune response in the context of Multiple Sclerosis. Later, he was awarded a UQ international scholarship to undertake a Ph.D. at the Institute for Molecular Biosciences (IMB), under the supervision of Prof Matt Cooper, his Ph.D. project has assisted in the development of next-generation NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors, and to validate NLRP3 as a druggable therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease. He completed his Ph.D. in 2019 and continued his post-doctoral research studies under the supervision of Prof Trent Woodruff. A key focus of his current work is testing novel drugs in preclinical models and understanding the role of the peripheral innate immune response in neurodegenerative diseases including motor neuron disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Huntington's disease, and Parkinson's disease.
Book Chapter
Albornoz, Eduardo A., Woodruff, Trent M. and Gordon, Richard (2018). Inflammasomes in CNS diseases. Inflammasomes: clinical and therapeutic implications. (pp. 41-60) edited by Mario D. Cordero and Elisabet Alcocer-Gómez. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-89390-7_3
Journal Articles
Aguado, Julio, Amarilla, Alberto A., Taherian Fard, Atefeh, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Tyshkovskiy, Alexander, Schwabenland, Marius, Chaggar, Harman K., Modhiran, Naphak, Gómez-Inclán, Cecilia, Javed, Ibrahim, Baradar, Alireza A., Liang, Benjamin, Peng, Lianli, Dharmaratne, Malindrie, Pietrogrande, Giovanni, Padmanabhan, Pranesh, Freney, Morgan E., Parry, Rhys, Sng, Julian D. J., Isaacs, Ariel, Khromykh, Alexander A., Valenzuela Nieto, Guillermo, Rojas-Fernandez, Alejandro, Davis, Thomas P., Prinz, Marco, Bengsch, Bertram, Gladyshev, Vadim N., Woodruff, Trent M., Mar, Jessica C. ... Wolvetang, Ernst J. (2023). Senolytic therapy alleviates physiological human brain aging and COVID-19 neuropathology. Nature Aging, 3 (12), 1561-1575. doi: 10.1038/s43587-023-00519-6
Albornoz, Eduardo and Woodruff, Trent (2023). 200 Complement drives Parkinson’s disease neuropathology through activation of microglial C5a receptors. Immunobiology, 228 (5) 152650, 1-1. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2023.152650
Albornoz, Eduardo A., Gordon, Richard, Kumar, Vinod, Robertson, Avril A. B., Schroder, Kate and Woodruff, Trent M. (2023). Response to comment on “Inflammasome inhibition prevents α-synuclein pathology and dopaminergic neurodegeneration in mice”. Science Translational Medicine, 15 (696) adh0604, 1-4. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adh0604
Albornoz, Eduardo A., Amarilla, Alberto A., Modhiran, Naphak, Parker, Sandra, Li, Xaria X., Wijesundara, Danushka K., Aguado, Julio, Zamora, Adriana Pliego, McMillan, Christopher L. D., Liang, Benjamin, Peng, Nias Y. G., Sng, Julian D. J., Saima, Fatema Tuj, Fung, Jenny N., Lee, John D., Paramitha, Devina, Parry, Rhys, Avumegah, Michael S., Isaacs, Ariel, Lo, Martin W., Miranda-Chacon, Zaray, Bradshaw, Daniella, Salinas-Rebolledo, Constanza, Rajapakse, Niwanthi W., Wolvetang, Ernst J., Munro, Trent P., Rojas-Fernandez, Alejandro, Young, Paul R., Stacey, Katryn J. ... Woodruff, Trent M. (2023). SARS-CoV-2 drives NLRP3 inflammasome activation in human microglia through spike protein. Molecular Psychiatry, 28 (7), 2878-2893. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01831-0
Lo, Martin W., Amarilla, Alberto A., Lee, John D., Albornoz, Eduardo A., Modhiran, Naphak, Clark, Richard J., Ferro, Vito, Chhabra, Mohit, Khromykh, Alexander A., Watterson, Daniel and Woodruff, Trent M. (2022). SARS-CoV-2 triggers complement activation through interactions with heparan sulfate. Clinical and Translational Immunology, 11 (8) e1413, e1413. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1413
Isaacs, Ariel, Amarilla, Alberto A., Aguado, Julio, Modhiran, Naphak, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Baradar, Alireza A., McMillan, Christopher L. D., Choo, Jovin J. Y., Idris, Adi, Supramaniam, Aroon, McMillan, Nigel A. J., Muller, David A., Young, Paul R., Woodruff, Trent M., Wolvetang, Ernst J., Chappell, Keith J. and Watterson, Daniel (2022). Nucleocapsid specific diagnostics for the detection of divergent SARS-CoV-2 variants. Frontiers in Immunology, 13 926262, 926262. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.926262
Deora, Vandana, Lee, John D., Albornoz, Eduardo A., McAlary, Luke, Jagaraj, Cyril J., Robertson, Avril A. B., Atkin, Julie D, Cooper, Matthew A., Schroder, Kate, Yerbury, Justin J., Gordon, Richard and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). The microglial NLRP3 inflammasome is activated by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis proteins. Glia, 68 (2) glia.23728, 407-421. doi: 10.1002/glia.23728
Gordon, Richard, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Christie, Daniel C., Langley, Monica R., Kumar, Vinod, Mantovani, Susanna, Robertson, Avril A. B., Butler, Mark S., Rowe, Dominic B., O'Neill, Luke A., Kanthasamy, Anumantha G., Schroder, Kate, Cooper, Matthew A. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2018). Inflammasome inhibition prevents α-synuclein pathology and dopaminergic neurodegeneration in mice. Science Translational Medicine, 10 (465) aah4066, eaah4066. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aah4066
Haensgen, Henny, Albornoz, Eduardo, Opazo, María C., Bugueño, Katherinne, Jara Fernández, Evelyn Liliana, Binzberger, Rebecca, Rivero-Castillo, Tomás, Venegas Salas, Luis F., Simon, Felipe, Cabello-Verrugio, Claudio, Elorza, Alvaro A., Kalergis, Alexis M., Bueno, Susan M. and Riedel, Claudia A. (2018). Gestational hypothyroxinemia affects its offspring with a reduced suppressive capacity impairing the outcome of the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Frontiers in Immunology, 9 (JUN) 1257. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.01257
Opazo, María C., González, Pablo A., Flores, Betsi D., Venegas, Luis F., Albornoz, Eduardo A., Cisternas, Pablo, Bohmwald, Karen, Nieto, Pamela A., Bueno, Susan M., Kalergis, Alexis M. and Riedel, Claudia A. (2018). Gestational hypothyroxinemia imprints a switch in the capacity of astrocytes and microglial cells of the offspring to react in inflammation. Molecular Neurobiology, 55 (5), 4373-4387. doi: 10.1007/s12035-017-0627-y
Giacomin, Paul R., Kraeuter, Ann Katrin, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Jin, Shuting, Bengtsson, Mia, Gordon, Richard, Woodruff, Trent M., Urich, Tim, Sarnyai, Zoltán and Soares Magalhães, Ricardo J. (2018). Chronic helminth infection perturbs the gut-brain axis, promotes neuropathology and alters behaviour. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 218 (9), 1511-1516. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy092
Deora, Vandana, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Zhu, Kevin, Woodruff, Trent M. and Gordon, Richard (2017). The ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate does not inhibit synuclein mediated inflammasome activation in microglia. Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, 12 (4), 1-7. doi: 10.1007/s11481-017-9754-5
Albornoz, E. A., Carreno, L. J., Cortes, C. M., Gonzalez, P. A., Cisternas, P. A., Cautivo, K. M., Catalan, T. P., Opazo, M. C., Eugenin, E. A., Berman, J. W., Bueno, S. M., Kalergis, A. M. and Riedel, C. A. (2015). Gestational hypothyroidism increases the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in adult offspring (vol 23, pg 1627, 2013). Thyroid, 25 (9), 1068-1068. doi: 10.1089/thy.2012.0401.cxn
Arriagada, Alejandro A., Albornoz, Eduardo, Cecilia Opazo, Ma., Becerra, Alvaro, Vidal, Gonzalo, Fardella, Carlos, Michea, Luis, Carrasco, Nancy, Simon, Felipe, Elorza, Alvaro A., Bueno, Susan M., Kalergis, Alexis M. and Riedel, Claudia A. (2015). Excess iodide induces an acute inhibition of the sodium/iodide symporter in thyroid male rat cells by increasing reactive oxygen species. Endocrinology, 156 (4), 1540-1551. doi: 10.1210/en.2014-1371
Albornoz, Eduardo A., Carreno, Leandro J., Cortes, Claudia M., Gonzalez, Pablo A., Cisternas, Pablo A., Cautivo, Kelly M., Catalan, Tamara P., Cecilia Opazo, M., Eugenin, Eliseo A., Berman, Joan W., Bueno, Susan M., Kalergis, Alexis M. and Riedel, Claudia A. (2013). Gestational hypothyroidism increases the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in adult offspring. Thyroid, 23 (12), 1627-1637. doi: 10.1089/thy.2012.0401
Conference Papers
Gordon, Richard, Albornoz, Eduardo, Kanthasamy, Anumantha and Woodruff, Trent (2018). C5aR1 is required for a-synuclein mediated NLRP3 inflammasome activation. 27th International Complement Workshop (ICW), Santa Fe, NM, United States, Sep 16-20, 2018. Kidlington, Oxford, United Kingdom: Pergamon Press. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2018.06.247
Opazo, Maria Cecilia, Bugueño, Katherinne, Jara, Evelyn, Haensgen, Henny, Albornoz, Eduardo, Gomez, Felipe, Binzberger, Rebecca, Toledo, Paola, Blanco, Noelia, Simon, Felipe, Elorza, Alvaro, Kalergis, Alexis, Bueno, Susan and Riedel, Claudia (2017). Gestational hypothyroxinemia increases the immune response of the progeny that suffers experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Immunology 2017™ Meeting, Washington, DC United States, 12-16 May 2017. Rockville, MD United States: American Association of Immunologists. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.198.supp.207.8
Magalhaes, Ricardo J. Soares, Giacomin, Paul, Sarnyay, Zoltan, Kraeuter, Ann, Urich, Tim, Bengtsson, Mia, Jin, Shuting, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Gordon, Richard and Woodruff, Trent (2017). Gut microbiome changes induced by experimental trichuris muris infection are associated with decreased cognitive function in mice. 65th Annual Meeting of the American-Society-of-Tropical-Medicine-and-Hygiene (ASTMH), Atlanta, GA, United States, 13-16 November 2016. Deerfield, United States: American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Gordon, Richard, Albornoz, Eduardo A., Kumar, Vinod, Zhou, Kiane, Garin-Michaud, Ashoka, Mantavani, Susanna, Kanthasamy, Anumantha G. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2016). Complement C5a activates microglial NLRP3 inflammasomes and drives neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease through C5aR1. The XXVI International Complement Workshop (ICW), Kanazawa, Japan, 4-8 September 2016. Muenchen, Germany: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2016.06.146
Albornoz, E., Deora, V., Robertson, B. A., Cooper, M. A., Schroder, K., Woodruff, T. M. and Gordon, R. (2015). Paraquat activates the NLRP3 Inflammasome in microglia via the NADPH oxidase pathway. International Congress of Immunology (ICI), Melbourne, Australia, Aug 21-26, 2016. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-Blackwell.
Thesis
Albornoz Balmaceda, Eduardo (2019). Pharmacological targeting of the inflammasome: towards novel therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease. PhD Thesis, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2019.702