Christopher Valdez, Ph.D.

DR-02 Research Neuroscientist, Air Force Research Laboratory

Dr. Chris Valdez is a DR-02 research neuroscientist within the Air Force Research Laboratory. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology with Tier II Honors from the University of Texas at San Antonio. As an undergraduate, he created an in silco brain cholesterol metabolism model, which led to two first-author publications and an oral presentation at the Society for Neuroscience conference. Dr. Chris Valdez continued his neuroscience training at the University of Michigan where he received his doctorate in Neuroscience within the programs in biomedical sciences. At the University of Michigan, he examined electrophysiological and behavior deficits that arise from aberrant subcellular neuronal signaling due to neuropsychiatric and neurophysiological disorders. Specifically, Dr. Valdez completed in vivobrain recordings in the whole animal, and field recordings from brain slices. His behavioral examinations included Pavlovian Fear Conditioning, novelty suppressed feeding, novel object recognition, and open-field examinations.

To complete his graduate work, Dr. Valdez maintained several transgenic mouse colonies where animals were routinely genotyped, and crossed to generated specific transgenic strains. In addition, Dr. Chris Valdez investigated adult neurogenesis in the aging mouse, and ion channelopathy research by utilizing Caenorhabditis elegans and xenopus oocytes. His graduate work has led to several peer-reviewed publications, national-level presentations, and a National Science Foundation research grant. In the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Radio Frequency Bioeffects Branch, Dr. Chris Valdez began his tenure as a National Research Council’s postdoctoral fellow in January 2016. Dr. Valdez’s work focuses on how muscle and neuronal cells respond to unipolar and bipolar high voltage short duration energy exposure.

Within the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Radio Frequency Bioeffects Branch, he also collaborates with ongoing research that has contributed to 4 conference presentations, 2 peer-reviewed publication, and 2 U.S. patent applications. Across the branches, Dr. Valdez helped establish a neuronal cell isolation protocol as a co-primary investigator in relative haplotype dosage, and trained radio frequency and bioeffects technicians to perform cardiac perfusions and spinal cord isolations. His primary work has led to a first author publication in Scientific Reports, Bioelectromagnetics, and a proceeding in the international society for optics and photonics (SPIE).

Education

• B.S., Biology, The University of Texas at San Antonio
• Ph.D., Neuroscience, The University of Michigan