Dr Juan Varela

Research Fellow

Researcher profile

Phone

+44 (0)1334 463408

Email

jv32@st-andrews.ac.uk

Research areas

Juan Varela studied physics in Uruguay and did his PhD in Ireland at the Centre for Bio-Nano Interactions, University College Dublin. He subsequently did a postdoc at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Neurosciences in Bordeaux (France), and a second postdoc in neurodegeneration at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge (UK). Juan has recently established his research group at the University of St Andrews funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant. His main research interests are the use of nanotechnology and high resolution microscopy to understand and cure neurodegenerative diseases. Visit our lab website for research updates and opportunities: https://synergy.st-andrews.ac.uk/neurophotonics

PhD supervision

• Sybille Marchese
• Anna-Lena Zepernick

Selected publications

• ThX-a next-generation probe for the early detection of amyloid aggregates

  Needham, L. M., Weber, J., Varela, J. A., Fyfe, J. W. B., Do, D. T., Xu, C. K., Tutton, L., Cliffe, R., Keenlyside, B., Klenerman, D., Dobson, C. M., Hunter, C. A., Müller, K. H., O'Holleran, K., Bohndiek, S. E., Snaddon, T. N. & Lee, S. F., 14 May 2020, In : Chemical Science. 11, 18, p. 4578-4583 6 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Different soluble aggregates of A?42 can give rise to cellular toxicity through different mechanisms

  De, S., Wirthensohn, D. C., Flagmeier, P., Hughes, C., Aprile, F. A., Ruggeri, F. S., Whiten, D. R., Emin, D., Xia, Z., Varela, J. A., Sormanni, P., Kundel, F., Knowles, T. P. J., Dobson, C. M., Bryant, C., Vendruscolo, M. & Klenerman, D., 4 Apr 2019, In : Nature Communications. 10, 11 p., 1541.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Comparative Analysis of Photoluminescence and Upconversion Emission from Individual Carbon Nanotubes for Bioimaging Applications

  Danne, N., Godin, A. G., Gao, Z., Varela, J. A., Groc, L., Lounis, B. & Cognet, L., 21 Feb 2018, In : ACS Photonics. 5, 2, p. 359-364 11 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• FUS phase separation is modulated by a molecular chaperone and methylation of arginine cation-? interactions

  Qamar, S., Wang, G., Randle, S. J., Ruggeri, F. S., Varela, J. A., Lin, J. Q., Phillips, E. C., Miyashita, A., Williams, D., Ströhl, F., Meadows, W., Ferry, R., Dardov, V. J., Tartaglia, G. G., Farrer, L. A., Kaminski Schierle, G. S., Kaminski, C. F., Holt, C. E., Fraser, P. E., Schmitt-Ulms, G., Klenerman, D., Knowles, T., Vendruscolo, M. & St George-Hyslop, P., 19 Apr 2018, In : Cell. 173, 3, p. 720-734 e15.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Optical structural analysis of individual ?-synuclein oligomers

  Varela, J. A., Rodrigues, M., De, S., Flagmeier, P., Gandhi, S., Dobson, C. M., Klenerman, D. & Lee, S. F., 23 Apr 2018, In : Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 57, 18, p. 4886-4890 5 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Single-nanotube tracking reveals the nanoscale organization of the extracellular space in the live brain

  Godin, A. G., Varela, J. A., Gao, Z., Danné, N., Dupuis, J. P., Lounis, B., Groc, L. & Cognet, L., Mar 2017, In : Nature Nanotechnology. 12, 3, p. 238-243 6 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Single nanoparticle tracking of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors in cultured and intact brain tissue

  Varela, J. A., Ferreira, J. S., Dupuis, J. P., Durand, P., Bouchet, D. & Groc, L., Oct 2016, In : Neurophotonics. 3, 4, 9 p., 041808.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Spatial and structural metrics for living cells inspired by statistical mechanics

  Åberg, C., Varela, J. A., Fitzpatrick, L. W. & Dawson, K. A., 6 Oct 2016, In : Scientific Reports. 6, 8 p., 34457.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Targeting neurotransmitter receptors with nanoparticles in vivo allows single-molecule tracking in acute brain slices

  Varela, J. A., Dupuis, J. P., Etchepare, L., Espana, A., Cognet, L. & Groc, L., 14 Mar 2016, In : Nature Communications. 7, 10 p., 10947.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Toward the suppression of cellular toxicity from single-walled carbon nanotubes

  Gao, Z., Varela, J. A., Groc, L., Lounis, B. & Cognet, L., Feb 2016, In : Biomaterials Science. 4, 2, p. 230-44 15 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Review article

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