IDIBELL mourns the loss of neuroscientist Ernest Arenas, director of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and member of the IDIBELL Scientific Advisory Board. Born in Lleida in 1962, Arenas studied Medicine and Surgery at the University of Lleida and completed his doctoral thesis at the University of Barcelona under the direction of Jordi Alberch. During his predoctoral period, he stood out for his capacity for work and his critical, innovative and creative spirit. One of his most relevant articles, published in 1991 in the Journal of Neuroscience, was one of the first works carried out by an exclusively Spanish group at a time when neuroscience was not very competitive in the country.

In 1991, Arenas moved to the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm to do a postdoctoral stay with Hakan Persson, where he studied the function of neurotrophins in the central nervous system, an emerging and extremely competitive field. He obtained a professorship at Karolinska in 1994 and, since 2002, he has been Professor of Stem Cell Neurobiology, as well as directing the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory.

His scientific contributions have been fundamental in the understanding of Parkinson’s disease, both in the development and regeneration of dopaminergic neurons and in the differentiation of stem cells for possible regenerative therapies. His results have been published in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature, and he has received numerous awards and recognitions at national and international level.

Despite carrying out most of his career outside of Catalonia, Arenas always maintained a strong connection with the science of his native country. With a critical and constructive spirit, he participated as an external advisor in governing bodies of different institutions, such as IDIBELL and IRBLleida, where he contributed the value of his ideas.

(Photo: Ulf Sirborn)