María Inés
VERA Ph.D. Full Professor, Universidad
Andrés Bello
A prominent cell and molecular
biologist with a strong background in animal sciences received
her Ph.D. at the Universidad Austral de Chile and a postdoctoral
training in the University of Liege, Belgium, in the laboratory
of Dr. Joseph Martial. Her work has been fundamental to
assess the molecular consequences of the physiological nucleolar
segregation that occurs in fish upon winter acclimatization.
Accordingly she has been leading a research team who has
established the molecular events that lead to a down regulation
of ribosomal biogenesis during the cold temperature adaptive
response in fish. In this endeavor she has been the first
to demonstrate that nucleolin is involved in the rRNA synthesis
reduction and that the occurring physiological segregation
constitutes a novel model in the study of nuclear and nucleolar
dynamics.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS: Professor, Universidad Austral
de Chile (Valdivia), Full Professor, Universidad Andrés
Bello
PUBLICATIONS: 33 publications in mainstream journals.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
Kausel, G., VERA, M.I., Figueroa, J., Hernández, J., San Martin, R.,
Molina, A., Chavez, V.M., Muller, M., Martial, J., Krauskopf,
M. (1998) “Effect of seasonal acclimatization on the expression
of the carp transcription factor Pit-1” Biochemistry
and Mol Biol International 45, 813-821
Kausel, G., VERA, M.I., San Martín, R., Figueroa, J., Molina, A., Muller,
M., Martial, J., Krauskopf, M. (1999) “Transcription Factor
Pit-1 Expression Is Modulated Upon Seasonal Acclimatization
of Eurythermal Ectotherms: Identification of two Pit-1 genes
in Carp” J. Cell. Biochem. 75, 598-609
Joseph,
N., Krauskopf, E., VERA, M.I., Michot, B. (1999)
“Ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) exhibits
a common core of secondary structure in vertebrates and
yeast” Nucleic Acids Res. 27, 4533-4540
VERA, M.I., Kausel, G., Barrera, R., Leal, S., Figueroa,
J., Quezada, C. (2000) “Seasonal adaptation modulates the
expression of the protein kinase CK2 b
subunit gene in the carp” Biochem. Biophys. Res. Com.
271, 735-740.
Sarmiento,
J., Leal, S., Quezada, C., Kausel, G., Figueroa, J., VERA,
M.I., Krauskopf, M. (2000) “Environmental acclimatization
of the carp modulates the transcription of b-actin” J. Cell. Biochem. 80, 223-228.
López,
M., Figueroa, J., Kausel, G., VERA, M.I., Krauskopf,
M. (2001) “In situ hybridization of somatolactin
transcripts in the pituitary glands from acclimatized carp
(Cyprinus carpio)” Biol. Res. 34, 7-13.
Alvarez,
M., Kausel G., Figueroa, J., VERA M. I. (2001) “Environmental
reprogramming of the expression of protein kinase CK2b subunit in fish” Mol. Cell. Bioch.
227, 107-112.
Molina
A., Corta A., San Martín R., Alvarez M., Burzio L.O., Krauskopf
M., VERA M.I. (2002) “Gene structure of the carp
fish ribosomal protein L41. Seasonally regulated expression”
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 295, 582-586.
Alvarez, M., Quezada, C., Navarro, C., Molina, A., Bouvet, P., Krauskopf, M.,
VERA, M.I. (2003)
“An increased expression of nucleolin is associated with
a physiological nucleolar segregation” Biochem Biophys
Res Commun. 301, 152-1586.
