BIO
Olga Peñagarikano Ahedo (Tolosa, Guipúzcoa, 1974) is a Ramón y Cajal researcher in the Pharmacology Department of Universidad del País Vasco. Her studies on autism have taken her to Emory University, Atlanta and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Her characterization of one of today’s most commonly used and valued animal models of autism was included in the Top 10 discoveries on autism in 2011.
PROJECT
The project aims to determine whether the lack of oxytocin in the perinatal period leads to immaturity of the neuronal system, and thus to autism.
Confirmation of this hypothesis could open up lines of research for the development of therapies to treat a disorder that affects 1 in 68 children at birth.