Dr. Maria (“Marién”) E. Solesio trained in Spain, where she earned her Pharm.D. in 2008 and her Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology in 2013. The main focus of her Ph.D. dissertation was the study of mitochondrial dysfunction in pharmacological models of Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. During her undergraduate studies, she visited the laboratory of Dr. Mike P. Murphy, in Cambridge, UK, where she trained in the use of mitochondrial-addressed antioxidants. In July 2013, just after graduation, she joined New York University (NYU) for her postdoctoral training, thanks to a competitive fellowship, sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Health. At NYU, she worked for a year under the supervision of Dr. Blas Frangione, at the laboratory of Dr. Silvia Fossati. In July 2014, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Evgeny V. Pavlov, also at NYU, where she conducted her postdoctoral training until September 2019. During that time, she visited the laboratory of Dr. Ursula Jakob, at the University of Michigan, where she trained in protein biology techniques.

In May 2018, Dr. Solesio was awarded a K99/R00 Grant by NIA/NIH. Thanks to those funds and the generous start-up package offered by Rutgers University, she was able to establish her own laboratory at Rutgers University, where she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology.

The main research focus of Dr. Solesio during her career has been the study of mitochondrial physiology and dysfunction in neurodegeneration and aging. She is especially interested in the role of mitochondrial inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) in the dysfunction of the organelle.