At the intersection of opportunity, concern, passion and innovation lies the story of Bernardo Maximiliano “Max” Garduño, a neuroscience graduate student in the lab of Xiangmin Xu in UC Irvine’s Center for Neural Circuit Mapping. A rising young investigator, Garduño is focusing his doctoral research on natural animal models for Alzheimer’s disease.

In the spring of 2020, Garduño was working as a lab specialist. He was invited to join other researchers in a Zoom meeting with AD researchers in Chile. The meeting was about studying Octodon degus, small rodents endemic to central Chile. He learned degus were being used in scientific research for studies related to AD and other age-related conditions. As a Ph.D. student committed to unraveling the complexities of the disease, Garduño seized the opportunity to work with Xu, a Chancellor’s Professor of anatomy and neurobiology, and the Chilean team. “I knew I had to grab onto the project and take ownership,” he says.

Today, Garduño’s research with degus holds great promise for future therapies and deepening our understanding of how Alzheimer’s progresses. While mice are commonly used in AD research, they do not naturally exhibit the disease’s characteristics. They rely on genetic modifications that don’t fully replicate human AD. Garduño focuses on Chilean degus because they naturally present numerous neuropathologies associated with AD, including beta-amyloid plaques, tau tangles and cognitive deficits. The extended lifespan of degus (up to nine years compared to about two for mice) allows age-related AD-like deficits to manifest more authentically.

Garduño aims to use advanced lab techniques to investigate how gene expression in individual cell types changes in the aging degu brain. This will help researchers understand the molecular mechanisms inside degu cells that contribute to the emergence of AD-like deficits in their brains. The work has the potential to offer new insights and treatment targets for AD and other neurological disorders.

Garduño stressed that none of this would have been possible without the power of philanthropy. “I was born in Mexico and am a naturalized U.S. citizen,” he says. “My single mom raised me, and we were supported by my grandparents. Growing up, I was interested in science and daydreamed of one day doing experiments in a lab. However, this goal seemed so convoluted and distant that it felt unachievable for a long time.”

He refused to give up, stuck with his dream and forged his academic path toward higher education.

Today Garduño is passionately thankful for his time at UC Irvine. “This campus is a wonderfully collaborative community on many levels,” he says. “I am surrounded by extremely talented researchers who have been pure gold in my development as a neuroscientist. I wouldn’t be here without the amazing donors who are investing in researchers like me and my fellow graduate students.”

Garduño was named a 2023-24 recipient of the Katherine and Robert Phalen Endowment. The grant came at an urgent time for him: He was supporting his mother and grandmother after the death of his grandfather. Garduño believes that his path from passionate student to pioneering researcher has been made possible by the small, targeted philanthropic support that’s fueling the next generation of discovery.

Xu is also grateful for such donors: “Philanthropic support does more than fund the work of young researchers – it unlocks their potential. It gives them the freedom to take risks, explore bold ideas and push the boundaries of knowledge. Without this support, much of the progress toward ending Alzheimer’s disease and addressing other age-related neurological conditions would simply not be possible.”

If you want to learn more about supporting this or other activities at UC Irvine, please visit the Brilliant Future website. By engaging 75,000 alumni and garnering $2 billion in philanthropic investment, UC Irvine seeks to reach new heights of excellence in student success, health and wellness, research and more. The School of Medicine plays a vital role in the success of the campaign. Learn more by visiting https://brilliantfuture.uci.edu/uci-school-of-medicine.