Ana Laura Vivinetto

Profesora Asistente


Dr. Ana Laura Vivinetto investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate wound healing in the central nervous system, with a particular focus on spinal cord injury (SCI). She earned her degrees in Biology and a Ph.D. in Neurosciencetrained at the National University of Córdoba (Argentina). Her doctoral thesis examined the neuroprotective mechanisms mediated by oligodendrocytes in response to glutamate toxicity.

She completed her postdoctoral training at the Burke Neurological Institute, a center of excellence in neuroscience affiliated with Weill Cornell Medicine (USA), where she specialized in studying the role of astrocytes in scarring after spinal cord injury. Her research explored the parallels between neural and non-neural tissue repair and was supported by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, the New York State Spinal Cord Injury Research Board (SCIRB), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

She currently leads her laboratory at the Center for Integrative Biology at Universidad Mayor, where she combines functional, morphological, and omics approaches to study the role of matricellular proteins in tissue remodeling and fibrosis after spinal cord injury. Her work focuses on understanding the interactions between these proteins and glial cells during tissue repair, with the goal of opening new therapeutic avenues in the field of neurotrauma.

Her technical expertise spans in vivo rodent models of spinal cord injury, behavioral assessment, histology, advanced microscopy, cell culture, molecular analysis, and transcriptomics.


Ana Laura Vivinetto

PUBLICATIONS

Palandri A, Salvador VR, Wojnacki J, Vivinetto AL, Schnaar RL, Lopez PH. Myelin-associated glycoprotein modulates apoptosis of motoneurons during early postnatal development via NgR/p75(NTR) receptor-mediated activation of RhoA signaling pathways. Cell Death Dis. 2015 Sep 3;6(9):e1876. doi: 10.1038/cddis.2015.228. PubMed PMID: 26335717; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4650434.

Rozés Salvador V, Heredia F, Berardo A, Palandri A, Wojnacki J, Vivinetto AL, Sheikh KA, Caceres A, Lopez PH. Anti-glycan antibodies halt axon regeneration in a model of Guillain Barrè Syndrome axonal neuropathy by inducing microtubule disorganization via RhoA-ROCK-dependent inactivation of CRMP-2. Exp Neurol. 2016 Apr;278:42-53. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2016.01.016. Epub 2016 Jan 22. PubMed PMID: 26804001.

Goldberg DC, Fones L, Vivinetto AL, Caufield JT, Ratan RR, Cave JW. Manipulating Adult Neural Stem and Progenitor Cells with G-Quadruplex Ligands. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2020 May 20;11(10):1504-1518. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00194. Epub 2020 Apr 29. PubMed PMID: 32315155.

Vivinetto AL, Kim ID, Goldberg DC, Fones L, Brown E, Tarabykin VS, Hill CE, Cho S, Cave JW. Zeb2 Is a Regulator of Astrogliosis and Functional Recovery after CNS Injury. Cell Rep. 2020 Jun 30;31(13):107834. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107834. PubMed PMID: 32610135; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7416489.

Falcón CR, Hurst NF, Vivinetto AL, López PHH, Zurita A, Gatti G, Cervi L, Monferran CG, Roth GA. Diazepam Impairs Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses and Ameliorates Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis. Front Immunol. 2021;12:682612. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.682612. eCollection 2021. PubMed PMID: 34354703; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8329586.

Vivinetto AL, Cave JW. Zeb2 directs EMT-like processes that underlies the glial response to injury. Neural Regen Res. 2021 Sep;16(9):1788-1790. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.306078. PubMed PMID: 33510078; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8328788.

Vivinetto AL, Castañares C, Garcia-Keller C, Moyano AL, Falcon C, Palandri A, Rozés-Salvador V, Rojas JI, Patrucco L, Monferran C, Cancela L, Cristiano E, Schnaar RL, Lopez PHH. Myelin-associated glycoprotein activation triggers glutamate uptake by oligodendrocytes in vitro and contributes to ameliorate glutamate-mediated toxicity in vivo. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2022 Apr 1;1868(4):166324. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2021.166324. Epub 2021 Dec 24. PubMed PMID: 34954343.

David BT, Curtin JJ, Brown JL, Scorpio K, Kandaswamy V, Coutts DJC, Vivinetto A, Bianchimano P, Karuppagounder SS, Metcalfe M, Cave JW, Hill CE. Temporary induction of hypoxic adaptations by preconditioning fails to enhance Schwann cell transplant survival after spinal cord injury. Glia. 2023 Mar;71(3):648-666. doi: 10.1002/glia.24302. Epub 2022 Dec 24. PubMed PMID: 36565279; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11848738.

Vivinetto AL, Bernstein A, Soliman M, Cave JW, Hollis E. Acute Extrinsic Activation of the RANKL Pathway Decreases Wound Healing and Functional Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury in Mice. Glia. 2025 May;73(5):969-984. doi: 10.1002/glia.24667. Epub 2025 Jan 19. PMID: 39828951; PMCID: PMC11922651.

RESEARCH LINES

Understanding Cell Type-specific Roles of SPARC in Wound Healing and Fibrosis Following Spinal Cord Injury

Improving wound healing and reducing fibrosis after spinal cord injury (SCI) is essential to promote functional recovery. SPARC is a key regulator of extracellular matrix remodeling and fibrosis. Preliminary data suggest that SPARC, expressed by both astrocytes and fibroblasts, influences scarring and tissue repair. This project aims to define the cell type-specific roles of SPARC in SCI using vitro astrocyte-fibroblasts co-culture models and acute SPARC deletion in vivo SCI dorsal hemisection models. The findings will guide strategies to modulate the injury environment and promote regeneration.

PROJECTS

Activo:

2025-2028 FONDECYT de Iniciación 11250310 (Investigadora Principal)

Terminado:

2020-2022 Craig H. Neilsen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship 649532 (Investigadora Principal)

2022-2024 NYS SCIRB Innovative, Developmental or Exploratory Activities (IDEA) in Spinal Cord Injury Project C37717GG (Co-Investigadora)

NETWORK

Edmund Hollis, II, Burke Neurological Institute, WCM, USA.