Sonia Villapol

Sonia Villapol, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Academic Institute
Assistant Member, Research Institute
Houston Methodist
Weill Cornell Medical College


VILLAPOL Lab


Phone:
713.363.9208


svillapol@houstonmethodist.org
Biography

Dr. Sonia Villapol graduated from the University of Santiago of Compostela, Spain (2003) with a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. She received her master's degree and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain (2007). She worked as a postdoctoral fellow at CNRS in the University Pierre and Marie Curie VI and at INSERM in Paris, France (2007-2010), and at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at Uniformed Services University (USUHS) in Bethesda, MD (2010-2014). Following her postdoctoral research work, Dr. Villapol joined the Department of Neuroscience at Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) as a Research Assistant Professor in May 2014. In July 2018, she started as an Assistant Professor at the Center for Neuroregeneration at Houston Methodist Research Institute. Dr. Villapol has received extramural research funding as Principal Investigator from NIH. She has published over 70 articles in peer reviewer journals and book chapters. 

Description of Research

Dr. Villapol´s research interests have been mainly focused on elucidating the mechanisms of neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation or neurogenesis via several models of brain injury (traumatic brain injury or cerebral ischemia), and neurodegeneration as Alzheimer's disease. We are investigating the brain-gut axis or drug delivery using nanoparticles for neurorestoration in a gender-dependent manner. 

Villapol's lab focus is the pursuit of novel neurorestorative treatments for debilitating brain injuries to open the door to alternative therapies that repair and recover the damaged brain through the periphery.

 

Research Interests:

  • Cerebral ischemia and traumatic brain injury
  • Neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease
  • Neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration
  • Sex and gender differences in response to brain damage
  • Brain-gut-microbiome axis ~ Brain-Periphery axis
  • Glia activation
  • Neuroprotection and Neurorestoration

 

Research Methods:

  • Animal models of brain injury
  • Immunohistochemistry and microscopy analysis
  • Protein analysis
  • DNA and RNA purification
  • Sequence analysis
  • Drug delivery
  • Neuroimaging

 

Areas Of Expertise

Stroke Inflammation Microbiome Immune activation Cerebral blood flow (CBF) Traumatic brain injury (TBI) Microglia Ischemia Apoptosis
Education & Training

PhD, Autonomous University of Barcelona
MS, Autonomous University of Barcelona
BS, University of Santiago de Compostela
Publications

Microbial Community Profiling Protocol with Full-length 16S rRNA Sequences and Emu
Curry, KD, Soriano, S, Nute, MG, Villapol, S, Dilthey, A & Treangen, TJ 2024, , Current Protocols, vol. 4, no. 3, e978. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpz1.978

Sex-dependent improvement in traumatic brain injury outcomes after liposomal delivery of dexamethasone in mice
Baudo, G, Flinn, H, Holcomb, M, Tiwari, A, Soriano, S, Taraballi, F, Godin, B, Zinger, A & Villapol, S 2024, , Bioengineering and Translational Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1002/btm2.10647

iDISCO Tissue Clearing Whole-Brain and Light Sheet Microscopy for High-Throughput Imaging in a Mouse Model of Traumatic Brain Injury
Flinn, H, Cruz-Pineda, L, Montier, L, Horner, PJ & Villapol, S 2024, . in Methods in Molecular Biology. vol. 2761, Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), Humana Press, pp. 589-597. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3662-6_39

Gender differences in Sequelae from COVID-19 infection
Villapol, S & Eimer, T 2023, . in 8. Understanding the Pandemic: Pathophysiology, Transmission and Treatment of COVID-19. Elsevier.

The Renin Angiotensin System as a Therapeutic Target in Traumatic Brain Injury
Villapol, S, Janatpour, ZC, Affram, KO & Symes, AJ 2023, , Neurotherapeutics, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 1565-1591. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-023-01435-8, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-023-01435-8

The Renin Angiotensin System as a Therapeutic Target in Traumatic Brain Injury
Villapol, S, Janatpour, ZC, Affram, KO & Symes, AJ 2023, , Neurotherapeutics, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 1565-1591. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-023-01435-8

The Renin Angiotensin System as a Therapeutic Target in Traumatic Brain Injury
Villapol, S, Janatpour, ZC, Affram, KO & Symes, AJ 2023, , Neurotherapeutics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-023-01435-8

Neuroinflammation with COVID-19: mechanisms and model studies.
Villapol, S 2023, in Understanding the Pandemic: Pathophysiology, Transmission and Treatment of COVID-19. Elsevier.

The role of the microbiota-gut-brain axis on the neurobiology of infectious diseases
Villapol, S & Barichello, T 2023, . in Neurobiology of Infectious Diseases . Elsevier.

Microbial community profiling protocol with full-length 16S rRNA sequences and Emu
Curry, KD, Soriano, S, Villapol, S, Dilthey, A & Treangen , T 2023, , Current Protocols.

A multinational Delphi consensus to end the COVID-19 public health threat
The COVID-19 Consensus Statement Panel 2022, , Nature, vol. 611, no. 7935, pp. 332-345. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05398-2

Emu: species-level microbial community profiling of full-length 16S rRNA Oxford Nanopore sequencing data
Curry, KD, Wang, Q, Nute, MG, Tyshaieva, A, Reeves, E, Soriano, S, Wu, Q, Graeber, E, Finzer, P, Mendling, W, Savidge, T, Villapol, S, Dilthey, A & Treangen, TJ 2022, , Nature Methods, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 845-853. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-022-01520-4

Long-COVID in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analyses
Lopez-Leon, S, Wegman-Ostrosky, T, Ayuzo del Valle, NC, Perelman, C, Sepulveda, R, Rebolledo, PA, Cuapio, A & Villapol, S 2022, , Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, 9950, pp. 9950. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13495-5

Alterations to the gut microbiome after sport-related concussion in a collegiate football players cohort: A pilot study
Soriano, S, Curry, K, Sadrameli, SS, Wang, Q, Nute, M, Reeves, E, Kabir, R, Wiese, J, Criswell, A, Schodrof, S, Britz, GW, Gadhia, R, Podell, K, Treangen, T & Villapol, S 2022, , Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, vol. 21, 100438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100438, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100438

Alterations to the gut microbiome after sport-related concussion in a collegiate football players cohort: A pilot study
Soriano, S, Curry, K, Sadrameli, SS, Wang, Q, Nute, M, Reeves, E, Kabir, R, Wiese, J, Criswell, A, Schodrof, S, Britz, GW, Gadhia, R, Podell, K, Treangen, T & Villapol, S 2022, , Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, vol. 21, pp. 100438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100438

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Derived from Alzheimer’s Disease Mice Worsens Brain Trauma Outcomes in Wild-Type Controls
Soriano, S, Curry, K, Wang, Q, Chow, E, Treangen, TJ & Villapol, S 2022, , International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 23, no. 9, 4476. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23094476

“Fisiopatología de las alteraciones gastrointestinales y hepáticas durante la infección por SARS-Cov2”: Fisiopatología de la COVID-19 en diferentes órganos y sistemas”.
Villapol, S 2022, in “Fisiopatología de las alteraciones gastrointestinales y hepáticas durante la infección por SARS-Cov2” . 1st Edition edn, Elsevier Espana.

iDISCO tissue clearing whole-brain and light sheet microscopy for high-throughput imaging in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury”.
Villapol, S 2022, in Neuroprotection: Methods and Protocols of the series METHODS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY . Elsevier.

Gastrointestinal Disorders: Understanding the Behavioral and Medical Impact of Long COVID: An Empirical Guide to Assessment and Treatment of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS CoV-2 Infection.
Villapol, S 2022, in Gastrointestinal Disorders. Jason, L.A. & Lapp, C. (Eds.)(2022). edn, Routledge, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003371090

COVID-SCORE Spain: public perceptions of key government COVID-19 control measures
White, TM, Cash-Gibson, L, Martin-Moreno, JM, Matesanz, R, Crespo, J, Alfonso-Sanchez, JL, Villapol, S, El-Mohandes, A & Lazarus, JV 2021, , European Journal of Public Health, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 1095-1102. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab066

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