Dr. Mariano Loza-Coll

I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I lived until I obtained my BSc degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires (majored in Biology).

Then I moved very far North, to Toronto, Canada. There I got my PhD degree from the Department of Medical Biophysics at University of Toronto. For my doctoral dissertation, I worked with cells in culture, investigating molecular pathways used by cancer cells to survive during metastasis. I also began my postdoctoral training in Toronto, using sea urchin larvae to try and understand how genes make immune systems.

But after seven proud Canadian winters, my wife and I decided that it was time to give SoCal a try. We moved to San Diego, where I continued my postdoctoral training, first at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and then at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where I investigated the genetic mechanisms underlying alternative cell fate decisions in Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly).
In late 2012, the lab where I was doing my postdoc moved from The Salk Institute to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which brought me a little closer to my new home, the Department of Biology at CSUN.