Pablo Armas has a degree in Biotechnology from Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas (FCByF), Universidad Nacional de Rosario (UNR); he completed his PhD and Post-doc at Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario (IBR-CONICET-UNR), under the supervision of Dr. Nora Calcaterra. He is currently an Independent Researcher at CONICET and an Associate Researcher of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Development group. He is Associate Professor of the Área Biología General, FCByF. In his research project, novel and little explored mechanisms of gene regulation are studied that depend on an unconventional structure of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) known as guanine quadruplex or G4s. These mechanisms have been revealed in the last 20 years in all living organisms and even in DNA and RNA viruses. The project addresses the study of G4s in the control of genes related to animal development, using the zebrafish model. G4s are also studied as regulators of genes related to human pathologies, and the influence of genetic variations on G4s as causes for the predisposition or onset of those pathologies. In addition, the role of G4s in the biology and replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which caused the COVID-19 pandemic, has recently been addressed.

Scopus Author ID: 6506870338 Orcid  Google scholar  Twitter: @PabloArmasF IG: pablo_armas

Directed Project:

Non-canonical structures of nucleic acids in the control of normal and pathological gene expression

We study the regulation of genes through novel and poorly explored mechanisms that depend on unconventional structures of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), known as guanine quadruplexes or G4s. The regulation of genes by G4s has been revealed in the last 20 years for all living organisms, from animals and plants to microorganisms such as bacteria and even in viruses with DNA and RNA genetic material. The project addresses the study of G4s in the control of genes related to animal embryonic development, using zebrafish as a model. The function of G4s in the regulation of genes related to human pathologies is also studied, mainly for genes involved in cancer, and the influence of genetic variations in G4s as possible causes for the predisposition or onset of those pathologies. In addition, the project recently incorporated the study of the function of G4s in the biology and replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ana Arabolaza has a Master in Biotechnology from the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FBIOyF) of the National University of Rosario (UNR). She completed her PhD in Biological Sciences (UNR) at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Rosario (IBR), under the direction of Dr. Hugo Gramajo. During this period, she carried out research internships at the University of California – Irvine, United States and at Swansea University, Wales. Afterwards, she carried out a short-term research stay at SYNBIOCHEM (Manchester Synthetic Biology Research Centre for Fine and Speciality Chemicals) based in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB)- University of Manchester – England, enjoying a scholarship from that University (Flexible Talent Mobility Account (FTMA2) MIB‐ SYNBIOCHEM). She is currently an Independent Researcher at CONICET, Teacher-Assistant in Charge of Assignments in the Microbiology area at FBIOyF and Project Director at IBR. Her research is focused on the study of the lipid metabolism of oleaginous bacteria and in Metabolic Engineering of model microorganisms for the production of novel oleochemicals.

ORCID 0000-0003-2347-8691

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6504363149

Dr. Cecilia Mansilla is a Biochemist graduated from the Faculty of Exact Sciences of the National University of La Plata (UNLP) and PhD from the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCByF) of the National University of Rosario, under the direction of Dr. Diego de Mendoza. She carried out research stays at the Scripps Institute, La Jolla (USA); Center for Biological Research, CSIC, Madrid (Spain); Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic); Pasteur Institute Structural Biology Unit, Paris (France) and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (USA). She is currently an Independent Researcher at CONICET and Project Director in the Microbial Physiology Group. She is an Associate Professor of Microbiology at the FCByF. Dr. Mansilla studies protein lipoylation and lipid synthesis as targets for new antibacterial and antiparasitic agents. For her doctoral thesis work she has received the “Dr. Enrique Herrero Ducloux” Award from the Argentine Chemical Association. Dr. Mansilla has received scholarships from the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology; the Argentine-Brazilian Center for Biotechnology; the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; the ASM International Scholarship; the Fulbright -Ministry of Education of the Nation Scholarship, and has been a beneficiary of the Help Program for trips abroad “AVE” of the UNR.

orcid.org/0000-0002-1444-8661

Scopus Author ID: 6603112945

Tw @CeciliaMV67

Ig ceciliamansilla67

Lautaro Diacovich have a master in Biotechnology from the Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas (FBIOyF) of the National University of Rosario (UNR). He finished his PhD. in the Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario (IBR), under the direction of Dr. Hugo Gramajo. During this period, he performed internships of investigation at the Universities of Stanford and Irvine, California, US. Then he completed a post-doctoral training at the Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, France. Actually, he is an Independent Research Investigator at CONICET, Teacher-Assistant in Charge of Assignments (JTP) in the Microbiology Department of FBIOyF, and Project Leader at IBR. His research is focused in the study of primary metabolism of pathogenic bacteria and in the interaction with the cell host, using different models, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Salmonella, Xanthomonas and Acinetobacter. He has received the EMBO post-doctoral fellowship.

ORCID 0000-0002-3339-0100

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lautaro-diacovich-6a29525/

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6507223397

María Inés Zanor is a biochemist, graduated from the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, National University of Rosario. She completed her postgraduate work at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in Golm-Postdam, Germany obtaining the Dr. title at the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, National University of Rosario. She continued in Germany where she also was engaged in two postdocs. She is an Independent Researcher at CONICET, and responsible for the Molecular Physiology of Crops line. The research of its line focuses on the characterization of proteins with unknown functions that participate in processes related to stress and growth, thus contributing to the identification of new strategies to increase stress tolerance and productivity of crops of agronomic interest. The line of work has identified a transcription factor that acts as a node in metabolic reprogramming, resulting in plants that are more tolerant to stress and have greater productivity. In the laboratory, direct and reverse genetic methods, biochemical and physiological studies are used and the behavior of plants is studied in optimal growth conditions and under environmental stress. Post-genomics techniques such as transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics are also used.

Directed Project:

Molecular physiology of crops

Achieving higher production goals to adequately feed the growing world population in quality and quantity is a challenge that involves expanding the region of arable areas and facing climate change. Furthermore, the urgent need to increase food production worldwide is associated with improving food quality. Plants, as sessile organisms, are continually challenged by multiple factors such as environmental stress that generates a negative impact on most relevant crops worldwide. It is estimated that the global economic losses associated with the reduction of growth and biomass production are in the order of billions of dollars, so the identification of the molecular mechanisms by which plants respond to environmental stress is essential to develop strategies of resistance. To increase productivity, it is important to correctly identify the molecular mechanisms that limit it in situations of environmental stress. Although in recent decades much progress has been made in the knowledge of numerous physiological, metabolic processes and molecular mechanisms related to responses to environmental stress in plants, there are still many unidentified components related to productivity and the response to stress, especially in agronomically important crops. The biochemical and physiological function of a large proportion of genes involved in responses to environmental stress is not yet determined. In this context, the study of proteins with unknown function is crucial to understand their participation in the gene activation chain in stress situations. Today, genomic and post-genomic tools are available to address these studies on a global scale and contribute to designing strategies to detect new key components related to the integration of environmental stress and plant growth programs. Characterization of genes of unknown function related to plant productivity in unfavorable environments It is estimated that between 20 and 40% of the genes present in sequenced eukaryotic organisms are proteins with no assigned function. The assignment of functions to a protein is based on the presence of detectable similarity between its sequence and that of functionally characterized proteins. However, even though a functional category can be assigned to a protein based on sequence homologies (for example: phosphatase, kinase, transcription factor), its biochemical and physiological function is partially or totally unknown. In the model organism Arabidopsis, about 5000 genes belong to this category and it is estimated that many of these proteins could be included in currently known metabolic pathways or gene networks. Consequently, since the role of many genes is not yet well established, it is of vital importance to characterize proteins with unknown functions in order to assign their location and roles in the gene activation chain in stress situations. Therefore, the project proposes to study the role in stress tolerance of a group of selected genes for which their functions are not yet established. Comparative studies of gene expression after environmental stress in crops such as soybean, tomato and, Arabidopsis thaliana leaves demonstrated that although there are differences, many genes of both species are induced or repressed in a similar way. This suggests that these species have conserved response mechanisms. This observation allows us to think about transferring scientific results obtained using model plants to crops that can meet the growing demand for food. Functional analysis of plant metabolism from a systems biology perspective The main objective of this line of research is to understand the mechanisms of regulation of the metabolism of compounds that confer quality to species of horticultural interest using the tomato plant (Solanum lycopersicum) as a model. The tomatoes consumed in Argentina are of low organoleptic and nutritional quality, since they have been selected for other attributes such as size, shape and good post-harvest behavior for better marketing. However, consumers are increasingly demanding tomato fruits that have greater and better flavor and are high in vitamin compounds and antioxidants. This line of work aims to identify and evaluate the interaction of the metabolic constituents of a food such as tomatoes and human health to understand how the presence of bioactive compounds in a food is associated with diseases related to certain lifestyles. This type of study, whose approach is innovative and multidisciplinary, is key to the development of the nutraceutical products market, which has experienced maximum growth during the last decade and is estimated at 117 billion dollars worldwide.

Gabriela Gago has a degree in Biotechnology from the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCByF) of the UNR, she completed her PhD in the Molecular Biology Area of the same Faculty under the supervision of Dr. Raquel Chan and Dr. Daniel Gonzalez. He carried out postdoctoral research at the IBR under the supervision of Hugo Gramajo and at the Global Health Institute in Lausanne (Switzerland) under the supervision of Stewart Cole. She is currently an Independent Researcher at CONICET and Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at FCByF. She works in the Physiology and Genetics of Actinomycetes group, where she leads studies related to the characterization of enzymes involved in lipid synthesis and their regulation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, particularly those involved in the synthesis of phospholipids and triacylglycerides and in the communication of the two fatty acid synthase systems present in this pathogen.

Twitter: @GabrielaGago4  IG: @gabriela_gago

Orcid

Scopus 

Directed Project:

Characterization of essential proteins for the coordination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell envelope synthesis during Infection

The aim of this research line is to provide information about the mechanisms that allow M. tuberculosis to adapt the expression of its cell envelope components in response to the environmental changes encountered in the host during infection. We aim to characterize the physiological role of FabH during infection, a key enzyme in the synthesis of mycolic acids. The synthesis pathways of phospholipids and TAGs are coordinated and share common enzymes and substrates, being phosphatidic acid (PA) a key intermediate. Enzymes involved in PA synthesis have not yet been characterized in mycobacteria, and therefore, we propose to elucidate these essential enzymatic steps for membrane biosynthesis. The analysis of the results will provide tools to understand how lipid synthesis is coordinated in M. tuberculosis and its role during infection, potentially offering new targets for the design of new antimycobacterial compounds.

Susana Checa has a Master in Science degree from the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCByF) of the National University of Rosario, Argentina; she completed her PhD at the PROMUBIE (Multidisciplinary Experimental Biology Program) of the same Faculty, under the direction of Dr. Alejandro Viale. She carried out three post-doctoral research stays in the different dependencies of the IBR (CONICET-UNR) and the Department of Microbiology of the FCByF. She is currently an Independent Researcher at CONICET, and a member of the Laboratory of Signal Transduction in Pathogenic Bacteria. She is also Professor of the Microbiology Department of the FCByF. She is director of the project: Design of bacterial biosensors of heavy metals and strategies for their bioremediation. Within the framework of this project, she studies at the molecular level metal stress signaling/response systems and their manipulation to generate efficient biotechnological tools to detect, quantify and/or bioremediate metals using bacteria. She also actively collaborates in the other projects carried out in her laboratory, particularly in the molecular and functional analysis of resistance to transition metals in Salmonella enterica and its role in pathogenesis.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-checa-353205116/

https://scholar.google.com.ar/citations?user=ivZ3makAAAAJ&hl=es&oi=ao

https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0003-1629-2848

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6603353057

Twitter: @SusanaCheca1

IG: susana.checa.3

FB: Susana Checa

Directed Project:

DESIGN OF BACTERIAL BIOSENSORS FOR HEAVY METALS AND BIOTECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR THEIR REMOVAL

Toxic metals such as mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) are disseminated in the environment as a result of human activities and improper waste disposal. These highly persistent pollutants cause severe pathologies and damage the ecosystem. Existing monitoring and removal methods are complex, expensive and/or unfriendly to the environment. Bacteria have mechanisms to detect and respond to these contaminants. My group studies these mechanisms and uses or modifies them on demand in order to develop simple and economical biotechnological detection/removal tools. Through genetic engineering and synthetic biology strategies we have obtained efficient and sensitive bacterial biosensors to detect and quantify the main metal contaminants. We are currently working on improving some of these tools and adding new capabilities such as removal or the detection of organometallic compounds.

Víctor Blancato has a degree in Biotechnology from the Faculty of Biochemistry and Biological Sciences of the National University of Litoral; he completed his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FBIOyF) of the National University of Rosario at the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology of Rosario under the direction of Dr. Christian Magni. He did research stays at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), at the MICALIS laboratory (INRA-AgroParisTech, France), at the University of Florida (USA), and at the University of Caen Normandy (France). He is currently a teacher of Practical Works at FBIOyF and is independent researcher of CONICET, working as Project Director in the Laboratory of physiology and genetics of lactic acid bacteria (IBR). He participated in the development of lactic acid bacteria for the production of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines. He applies genomics and metagenomics techniques to evaluate the impact of using lactic acid bacteria producing recombinant enzymes as a technology to supplement or inoculate silage for livestock nutrition. In addition, through a bioinformatics approach, selects probable virulence factors of microorganisms present in food to: perform comparative virulence analysis using the insect Galleria mellonella as a model; and study the virulence and regulation mechanisms involved.

Orcid

Scopus

Twitter: @VictorBlancato

Instagram: @victorsb14

Directed Project:

Applications of recombinant lactic acid bacteria in industrial processes. Development of technologies for animal nutrition

The general objective of this research line is to develop new biotechnological strategies to improve animal nutrition. The knowledge generated will facilitate the optimization of feed production processes and increase the efficiency of their utilization, leading to sustainable and environmentally friendly production. To achieve this, molecular biology, biochemistry, and high-throughput sequencing techniques are used to study the impact of enzymes produced by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) or recombinant LAB as technologies for supplementing or inoculating silage. LAB are commonly consumed by humans and used worldwide in producing and preserving fermented foods. In this context, we propose to explore the use of recombinant LAB to enhance the nutritional value of silage; and to assess the effects on the composition of the microbiota and its metabolic profile, as well as chemical changes occurring within the silage.

Anabella Lodeyro has a degree in Biotechnology from the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCByF) of the National University of Rosario; she have obtained her PhD degree in the Biophysics Area of the same Faculty under the direction of Dr. Oscar Roveri. She conducted research courses at national and international universities. She completed her Post-Doctoral studies at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Rosario (IBR-CONICET-UNR), under the direction of Dr. Néstor Carrillo. She is currently an Independent Researcher from CONICET and works in the Group of Biochemistry of stress in plants. She is a professor of the Biophysics Area from the FCByF. Her group studies how the redox state in plants regulates biological processes like foliar development and responses to abiotic (especially salinity, drought and oxidants) and biotic (pathogens) stress.

She is director of the project “Redox biochemistry of chloroplast in foliar development”

Scopus Author ID: 8520605000, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9208-2194

 @ana_lodeyro

Gabriela Coux has a degree in Biotechnology from the Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FCByF) of the National University of Rosario (UNR). She completed her PhD at the Institute of Experimental Physiology (IFISE) of the same Faculty, under the direction of Dr. María Mónica Elías. She did her postdoctoral studies at the IBR under the direction of Dr. Marcelo Cabada, and post-doctoral research stays at the University of Massachusetts, USA. She is an Associate Professor of Biophysics at FCByF-UNR. She is currently an Independent Researcher at CONICET, and Director of the project Regulation of genes controlling craniofacial morphogenesis. Her group studies the molecular mechanisms of embryonic craniofacial development, both under physiological and pathological circumstances.

Bioinformatics, biophysics, biochemistry, microscopy & molecular biology are the group’s favorite tools. And the zebrafish is the protagonist of these studies.

https://www.conicet.gov.ar/new_scp/detalle.php?id=31158&keywords=coux&datos_academicos=yes

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gabriela-Coux

Twitter: @gcoux