Sonia Villapol
Associate Professor | Driving brain recovery & therapeutic Innovation | Neurorestorative treatments, Gut-brain axis & Nanotechnology for brain injury & Alzheimer’s. Houston Methodist Research Institute.
- Role
- Associate Professor at Houston Methodist
- Location
- Houston, TX, US
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Sonia Villapol
I’m a neuroscientist focused on one big question: why does the brain keep declining after an injury or during neurodegenerative disease, and what can we do to change that trajectory?At Houston Methodist Research Institute (Center for Neuroregeneration / Department of Neurosurgery), my lab studies neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, and the gut-brain axis, with a strong emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). We work across models and datasets to understand what drives harmful inflammation, and we design neurorestorative, drug-delivery approaches to help shift the brain toward recovery.My path has been international and deeply translational: training in Spain (Molecular Biology & Biotechnology), a PhD in Neuroscience in Barcelona, postdoctoral work in Paris (CNRS / INSERM), and later in the U.S. at the NIH’s Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine and Uniformed Services University in Bethesda. I joined Georgetown University in 2014 and have been at HMRI since 2018.Over the years, my work has been supported by the NIH, Department of Defense, and private foundations, and I’ve authored 80+ peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, largely centered on inflammatory mechanisms across neurological conditions.If you’re building or advancing solutions in brain health-biotech, neurotech, diagnostics, drug delivery, or translational strategy, I’m especially interested in conversations where rigorous science meets real-world impact. Message me if you want to collaborate, explore translational strategies, or discuss how neuroinflammation and gut-brain biology can be leveraged to improve outcomes.(Research overview: villapol.hmailabs.org)
Experience
Associate Professor
Nov 2025 — Present · Houston, TX, US
Education
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
PhD, Neuroscience
2003 — 2007
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
BS, Biology (Molecular Biology and Biotechnology)
1997 — 2002
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Master, Neuroscience
2003 — 2004
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