Biography

Maria Lucrecia Alvarez, Ph.D., works on the development of transgenic plants intended for therapeutical or industrial applications. She obtained a Master in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina (2000). Her Ph.D. thesis dissertation was on “Improvement of Nutritional and Bread-Making Quality of Wheat by Genetic Engineering”. She received part of her Ph.D. training at the Institute of Arable Crops Research (IACR), Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol University, Bristol (England, 1996), supported by British Council and Fundación Antorchas (Argentina). In 2000, Dr. Alvarez studied the particular rheological properties of the dough made with flours from the transgenic wheat that she obtained, during her visit as a Research Scholar to the Department of Genetics and Plant Improvement, Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain).

In 2002, Dr. Alvarez joined Dr. Walmsley’s research team at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona (USA) as a Visiting Research Scholar, partially supported by a fellowship from Fundación Antorchas (Argentina). In 2003, Dr Alvarez was contracted by Arizona State University as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and joined Dr. Guy Cardineau’s laboratory. She is currently working in the development of an oral plant-made vaccine in tomato targeted against pneumonic and bubonic plague (Alvarez et. al. 2006, Vaccine 24: 2477- 2490). Other current areas of interest include a project on “Reversion of Gene Silencing” as a strategy to recover the expression of transgenic proteins in plants that are transformed with many copies of a transgene but have lost expression, presumably due to RNA silencing. As a part of a collaborative project with the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), Dr. Alvarez and Dr. Cardineau are developing transgenic alfalfa expressing hG-CSF (Human Granulocyte Colony Stimulator Factor) that would be used as a treatment in patients with leukemia and anemia as well as to counteract some of the negative side effects of the chemotherapy for cancer.

Scientific publications

Manuscripts in preparation or recently submitted for publication

1.    Alvarez ML, DiStefano JK. The role of non-coding RNA in diabetic nephropathy: potential applications as biomarkers for disease development and progression (submitted).

2.    Alvarez ML, DiStefano JK. Towards miRNA-based therapeutics for diabetic nephropathy (submitted).

3.    Alvarez ML, Khosroheidari M, Eddy E, Cotta Done S, DiStefano JK. MicroRNA-27a decreases the level and efficiency of the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor and contributes to the dysregulation of cholesterol homeostasis (in preparation)

4.    Alvarez ML, Khosroheidari M, Eddy E, DiStefano JK. Role of microRNA 1207-5p and its host gene PVT1 as mediators of diabetic kidney disease (in preparation).

A) Book chpaters

1. 
   
   Alvarez ML and Cardineau GA (2010) New strategies to solve an ancient problem: prevention of bubonic and pneumonic plague using plant-derived vaccines. In: Handbook of disease outbreaks: prevention, detection and control. Holmgren A. and Borg G Ed. Nova Publishers, New York. ISBN: 978-1-60876-224-8. https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23_129_287_878&products_id=13845&osCsid=71f28d50268f1dc005760c5cbd4e9b9a


2. 
   
   Alvarez ML and Nourbakhsh M. RNA Mapping Protocols. In: Disease Gene Identification. Johanna K. Wolford Ed. Methods in Molecular Biology series (In Press). http://www.springer.com/biomed/human+genetics/book/978-1-61737-953-6

B) Original research articles (peer-reviewed publications)

1. Alvarez ML, Khosroheidari M, Ravi R, DiStefano JK (2012). Comparison of protein, microRNA, and mRNA yields using different methods of urinary exosome isolation for the discovery of kidney disease biomarkers. Kidney Int. advance online publication, July 11, 2012; doi:10.1038/ki.2012.256.

2. Matsuda R, Kabota Ch, Alvarez ML, Cardineau GA (2012). Effect of High Electrical Conductivity of Hydroponic Nutrient Solution on Vaccine Protein Content in Transgenic Tomato. Hort Technol 22: 362-367.

3. Pinkhasov J, Alvarez ML, Rigano MM, Piensook K, Larios D, Pabst M, Grass J, Mukherjee P, Gendler SJ, Walmsley AM, Mason HS (2011). Recombinant plant-expressed tumour-associated MUC1 peptide is immunogenic and capable of breaking tolerance in MUC1.Tg mice. Plant Biotechnol J 9:933-1150.

4. Alvarez ML and DiStefano JK (2011). Non-coding RNA and diabetic nephropathy. Treatment Strategies – Diabetes- 3: 66-71. http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/8422a6ee#/8422a6ee/66

5. Alvarez ML and DiStefano JK (2011). Characterization of the plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 gene PVT1 as mediator of diabetic kidney disease. PlosONE, 6:1-8.

6. Pinkhasov J, Alvarez ML, Pathangey LB, Tinder TL, Mason HS, Walmsley AM, Gendler SJ, Mukherjee P (2010). Analysis of a cholera B subunit (CTB) and human mucin 1 (MUC1) conjugate protein in a MUC1-tolerant mouse model. Cancer Immunol Imunother 59: 1801-1811.

7. Matsuda R, Kabota Ch, Alvarez ML, Cardineau G (2010) Determining the optimal timing on fruit harvest in transgenic tomato expressing F1-V, a candidate subunit vaccine against plague. HortSci 45: 347-351.

8. Alvarez ML and Cardineau GA (2010). Prevention of bubonic and pneumonic plague using plant-derived vaccines. Biotechnology Advances 28: 184-196.

9. Alvarez ML, Martin F, Topal E, Cardineau GA (2010) High accumulation of recombinant proteins in induced ER-derived storage organelles in plants. Plant Mol Biol 72:75-89.

10. Matsuda R, Kabota Ch, Alvarez ML, Cardineau GA (2009) Biopharmaceutical protein production under controlled environments: growth, development and vaccine productivity of transgenic tomato plants grown hydroponically in greenhouse. HortScience 44:1594-1599.

11. Matsuda R, Kubota C, Alvarez ML and Cardineau, GA (2008) Preliminary evaluation of transgenic tomato plants expressing a Yersinia pestis antigen fusion protein F1-V grown in a greenhouse. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 797:381-385. Article in PDF.

12. Alvarez ML, Pinyerd HL, Topal E, Cardineau GA (2008) P19- dependent and P19-independent reversion of f1-v gene silencing in tomato. Plant Mol Biol 68: 61-79. Article in PDF.

13. Alvarez ML, Pinyerd HL, Rigano MM, Pinkhasov J, Walmsley AM, Mason HS, Cardineau GA (2006). Plant-made subunit vaccine against pneumonic and bubonic plague is orally immunogenic in mice. Vaccine 24: 2477- 2490. Article in PDF.

14. Rigano MM, Alvarez ML, Pinkhasov J, Jin Y, Sala F, Arntzen Ch, Walmsley AM (2004) Expression and stability of a fusion protein consisting of the enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli heat labile toxin B subunit and a tuberculosis antigen in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Rep 22: 502-508. Article in PDF.

15. Walmsley AM, Alvarez ML, Jin Y, Pinkhasov J, Rigano MM, Kirk D, Mason HS, Arntzen Ch (2003) Expression of an LTB fusion protein in transgenic tomato. Plant Cell Rep 21: 1020 – 1026. Article in PDF.

16. Permingeat HG*, Alvarez ML*, Cervigni GD, Ravizzini R, Vallejos RH (2003) Stable wheat transformation obtained without selectable markers. Plant Mol Biol 52: 415- 419. (*) Both authors contributed equally with the paper. Article in PDF.

17. Alvarez ML, Gómez M, Carrillo JM and Vallejos RH (2001). Analysis of dough functionality of flour from transgenic wheat. Mol Breed 8:103-108. Article in PDF.

18. Alvarez ML, Vallejos RH (2001) El pan nuestro de cada día. Ciencia Hoy 11: 35-43. Article in PDF

19. Alvarez ML, Guelman S, Halford NG, Lustig S, Reggiardo MI, Ryabushkina N, Shewry P, Stein J, Vallejos RH (2000) Silencing of HMW glutenins in transgenic wheat expressing extra HMW subunits. Theor Appl Genet 100:319-327. Article in PDF.

20. Alvarez ML, Laguné A, Jaffré G, Balagué C, Fernández L (1994) Relación entre cepas de enterobacterias manosa resistentes y presencia de células centelleantes en el sedimento urinario. Infect Microbiol Clin 6:136-140. Article in PDF

C) Congress Proceedings

Alvarez ML, DiStefano JK (2010). Characterization of the plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 gene (PVT1) as mediator of diabetic kidney disease. Diabetes 59: A1-A2.

Alvarez ML, Topal E, Martin F and Cardineau GA (2009). Higher accumulation of F1-V fusion recombinant protein in plants after induction of protein body formation. Proceedings of Vitro Biology Meeting, Charleston, S.C.. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Animal 45: S36.

Alvarez ML, Pinyerd HL, Topal E, Cardineau GA. (2008). High f1-v gene expression in transgenic tomato after spontaneous or P19-induced reversion of gene silencing. Proceedings of World Congress on In Vitro Biology, Tucson, AZ. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Plant 44: 56.

Topal E, Alvarez ML, Mason HS. (2008). Plant-derived Intimin Vaccine to Prevent Colonization of Enterohaemorragic Escherichia coli. Proceedings of World Congress on In Vitro Biology, Tucson, AZ. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 44: 36.

Alvarez ML, Pinyerd HL, Crisantes JD, Rigano MM, Pinkhasov J, Walmsley AM, Mason HS, Cardineau GA (2004). Stable plant expression of F1-V fusion protein antigens from Yersinia pestis for use as a vaccine against plague. In: Proceedings of REDBIO Congress 2004, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Alvarez ML, Gómez M, Carrillo JM, Guelman S, Halford N, Lustig S, Reggiardo M, Ryabushkina N, Shewry P, Stein J, Vallejos RH (2001). Transgenic wheat with better breadmaking quality. In: Proceedings of the the 5th National Wheat Congress, Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina.