dr. Alejandro Arias Vasquez

Over Alejandro Arias Vasquez

Alejandro Arias Vásquez, PhD is a biologist, genetic epidemiologist and senior researcher working at the intersection of biology, behavior, and mental health. His work explores a simple but powerful idea: the brain does not function in isolation, but in constant dialogue with the body, and particularly with the gut and its microbiota.

Trained as a genetic epidemiologist, Alejandro has spent the past decade helping to reshape how we understand neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders such as ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, depression, and anxiety. Rather than treating these conditions as purely “brain-based,” his research integrates genetics, nutrition, gut microbiota, immune signaling, and environmental exposures to explain why people differ so markedly in risk, symptoms, and treatment response.

He leads the Brain-Bacteria-Behaviour (B3) research line, where multidisciplinary teams combine population cohorts, clinical studies, multi-omics data, and experimental models to uncover how gut microbes influence brain development, behavior, and mental health across the lifespan. A central focus of his work is identifying shared, transdiagnostic mechanisms, biological pathways that cut across traditional diagnostic labels and help explain comorbidity and heterogeneity in psychiatry.

Alejandro has played key roles in major international consortia, including large-scale collaborations linking genetics, brain imaging, behavior, and microbiome data. His recent work has helped move the field from descriptive associations toward mechanistic and translational insight, informing nutritional and microbiota-targeted interventions that complement standard psychiatric care.

Beyond research, Alejandro is deeply committed to education and mentorship. He has trained undergraduate, MSc, and PhD students and contributes to international teaching initiatives, including summer schools that bridge neuroscience, microbiology, and psychiatry. His teaching philosophy emphasizes critical thinking, open science, and the responsible translation of research into clinical and societal impact.

He is also an active advocate for open science, citizen science, and responsible innovation. Many of his projects involve patient participation, real-world data collection, and collaboration with clinicians, industry partners, and policymakers. His long-term vision is to help close the gap between laboratory discoveries and everyday mental health care, especially through scalable, lifestyle-based approaches such as nutrition.

Alejandro’s work is driven by a belief that meaningful progress in mental health requires moving beyond single-factor explanations. By embracing biological complexity while keeping a clear focus on people and patients, he aims to contribute to a more integrative, humane, and effective psychiatry, one where food, microbes, genes, and the brain are understood as parts of the same system.