Biography
Dr. Cecilia Velasco completed her PhD in 2022 at the University of Barcelona in the Llobet’s group and contributed to the understanding of the biology of the synapse using single-cell neuronal cultures.
She later joined the Miesenböck’s group at the University of Oxford (DPAG, Center of Neural Circuits and Behaviour) as a Postdoctoral Researcher, where she investigated the role of mitochondria in modulating the activity of sleep-control neurons in the fly.
In October 2025, she received a Wellcome Early-Career Award to study the role of mitochondria in regulating slow oscillations that encode sleep need.
By combining genetic manipulations with in vivo electrophysiology, two-photon microscopy, sleep behaviour assessments and optical and electron microscopy, her project aims to find the link between subcellular processes and neuronal activity underlying sleep regulation.
In 2026, she became a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College.
Research Interests
neuroscience, physiology, oscillations, sleep, mitochondria