• /

  • Institutes of Science

Mauro Costa-Mattioli, PhD

Principal Investigator

Mauro Costa-Mattioli, PhD
"I decided to join Altos because I had in my dreams a place to unleash your imagination and scientific curiosity, a place where big questions are pursued with team science and scientific openness, a place to rejuvenate and dream again and, a place that perhaps can change biology and medicine."

Dr. Mauro Costa-Mattioli is a Principal Investigator at the Altos Labs Bay Area Institute of Science.

Mauro is also an adjunct Professor at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). He was Full Professor and Cullen Foundation Endowed Chair in Neuroscience & the Director of the Memory & Brain Research Center at BCM. He did his bachelor’s degree in the University of the Republic (Uruguay), his PhD at the University of Nantes (France) and his post-doctoral fellowship at McGill University (Canada). Mauro has elucidated central mechanisms underlying neurological dysfunction. Specifically, he discovered that the protein homeostasis network dubbed the integrated stress response (ISR) is a universal regulator of long- term memory formation, and its activation the main causative mechanism underlying cognitive dysfunction in a wide range of memory disorders. More recently, Mauro discovered how specific microbes in the gut modulate brain function and complex behaviors in both animal models and humans. He has received multiple awards, including the International Eppendorf & Science Prize in Neurobiology, the Searle Scholar Award, the International Society for Neurochemistry Young Investigator Award, the Michael E. DeBakey Excellence in Research Award, and the UCSF Presidential Award. Mauro also serves in several editorial boards, including the editorial board of the journal Neuron and the board of Life Science of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.