Ana Abdala

Dr Abdala obtained a first-class honours BSc in Biomedical Sciences, a PhD in Pharmacology and Physiology at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a Diploma in Advanced Pharmacology from the British Pharmacological Society. Currently, she is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Bristol, and scientific advisor to Rett UK. Dr Abdala is a systems neuroscientist, and her research focuses on autonomic dysfunction, in particular central apnoeas (with a focus on rare diseases), obstructive sleep apnoea, respiratory depression induced by drugs, treatment-resistant hypertension, and heart failure. Dr Abdala also works closely with mathematicians providing experimental input for the development of computational models of the mammalian respiratory central pattern generator. She has successfully applied the insight offered by the models to identify mechanisms of central apnoeas in Rett syndrome and potential treatment targets. This led to several target validation projects for treatment of respiratory dysfunction in Rett syndrome.