Medical Doctor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Buenos Aires. PhD at the Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Buenos Aires (2005). Postdoctoral studies at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich (2006-2008).
In 2008 he won a Max Planck Research Group Position in an open call jointly offered by the Max Planck Society (MPS), the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) and the Volkswagen Foundation to lead his own group in a Max Planck Institute in Germany and later on continue his research in Argentina.
From 2009 to September 2014 he was Independent Max Planck Research Group Leader of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich. Currently, he is Director of the IBioBA-CONICET-MPSP and holds a Max Planck – CONICET Research Group Leader position at the IBioBA, financed by Volkswagen Foundation.
Selected publications
- Szalai AM, Siarry B, Lukin J, Williamson DJ, Unsain N, Cáceres A, Pilo-Pais M, Acuna G, Refojo D, Owen DM, Simoncelli S, Stefani FD.
Three-dimensional total-internal reflection fluorescence nanoscopy with nanometric axial resolution by photometric localization of single molecules.
Nature Communications 12:517 (2021). - Vogl AM, Phu L, Becerra R, Giusti SA, Verschueren E, Hinkle TB, Bordenave MD, Adrian M, Heidersbach A, Yankilevich P, Stefani FD, Wurst W, Hoogenraad CC, Kirkpatrick DS, Refojo D*, Sheng M*.
Global site-specific neddylation profiling reveals that NEDDylated cofilin regulates actin dynamics.
Nat Struct Mol Biol 27:210-220 (2020).
*corresponding - Dedic N, Kühne C, Jakovcevski M, Hartmann J, Genewsky A, Gomes KS, Anderzhanova E, Pöhlmann M, Chang S, Kolarz A, Vogl AM, Metzger MW, Schmid B, Almada RC, Ressler KJ, Wotjak CT, Grinevich V, Chen A, Schmidt MV, Wurst W, Refojo D, Deussing JM.
CRH acts anxiolytic by modulating dopamine release through a subset of GABAergic long-range projection neurons.
Nat Neurosci 21:803-807 (2018) - Vogl AM, Brockmann MM, Giusti SA, Maccarrone G, Vercelli CA, Bauder CA, Richter JS, Roselli F, Hafner AS, Dedic N, Wotjak CT, Vogt-Weisenhorn DM, Choquet D, Turck CW, Stein V, Deussing JM, Refojo D.
Neddylation inhibition impairs spine development, destabilizes synapses and deteriorates cognition.
Nat Neurosci 18:239-51 (2015) - Rybak-Wolf A., Stottmeister C., Glazar P., Jens M., Pino N., Giusti S., Hanan M., Behm M., Bartok O., Ashwal-Fluss R., Herzog M., Schreyer L., Papavasileiou P., Ivanov A., O¨ hman M., Refojo D., Kadener S., Rajewsky N.
Circular RNAs in the Mammalian Brain Are Highly Abundant, Conserved, and Dynamically Expressed.
Molecular Cell 58, 1–16 (2015) - Giusti SA, Vogl AM, Brockmann MM, Vercelli CA, Rein ML, Trümbach D, Wurst W, Cazalla D, Stein V, Deussing JM, Refojo D.
MicroRNA-9 controls dendritic development by targeting REST.
Elife 3 (2014) - Refojo D, Schweizer M, Kuehne C, Ehrenberg S, Thoeringer C, Vogl AM, Dedic N, Schumacher M, von Wolff G, Avrabos C, Touma C, Engblom C, Schütz G, Nave K-A, Eder M, Wotjak CT, Sillaber I, Holsboer F, Wurst W, Deussing JM.
Glutamatergic and Dopaminergic Neurons Mediate Anxiogenic and Anxiolytic Effects of CRHR1.
Science 333:1903-1907 (2011) - Refojo D, Holsboer F.
CRH signaling: molecular specificity for drug targeting in the CNS.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1179:106-19 (2009) - Lu A, Steiner MA, Whittle N, Vogl AM, Walser SM, Ableitner M, Refojo D, Ekker M, Rubenstein JL, Stalla GK, Singewald N, Holsboer F, Wotjak C, Wurst W, Deussing JM.
Conditional mouse mutants highlight mechanisms of corticotropin-releasing hormone effects on stress-coping behaviour.
Mol Psychiatry 13:1028-1042 (2008) - Refojo, D., Echenique, C., Müller, M.B., Reul, J.M.H.M., Deussing, J.M., Wurst, W., Sillaber, I., Páez- Pereda, M., Holsboer, F., Arzt, E.
CRH activates ERK1/2 MAPK in specific brain areas.
PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102:6183-6188 (2005)