Chrystian Alves, PhD

Dr. Chrystian Junqueira Alves is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. 

Dr. Junqueira Alves investigates how mechanical forces affect the stem cell behaviors at the single and population level, and how population-level dynamics is coupled to tissue architecture in cerebral organoids. He further examines a potential epigenetic connection between nuclear mechanotransduction and spatial positioning of the genome within the nucleus. He combines stem cell biology, mathematical modeling, microfabrication, mechanobiology techniques, live-cell imaging, and molecular biology to investigate the intricate interplay between cellular structure, mechanics, and function.

Dr. Junqueira Alves completed his PhD studies with Drs. Gerson Chadi and Jessica Maximino at the University of São Paulo, Brazil where he unprecedentedly generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from peripheral nerve fibroblasts of patients with sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and the successfully differentiated into motor neurons to study the mechanisms of neurodegeneration.

Currently, Dr. Junqueira Alves’ research focuses on developing novel strategies to accelerate the neuronal differentiation of stem cells by manipulating cell mechanobiology. He also investigates the role of nuclear mechanotransduction and plasma membrane dynamics in the migration of cancer stem cells. His research has broad potential to accelerate the generation of subtype-specific neurons for disease modeling, in addition to understand novel mechanisms of cancer migration through confined spaces for drug development.