Associate Professor & co-Director of Graduate Studies
UNC-Chapel Hill
Education and Training
3/2001-5/2005 | M.Ed. comparable, Chemistry Education, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
8/2002-3/2007 | M.Sc. comparable, Chemistry, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina,
10/2008-4/2009 | EMBO short term visiting fellow, Cell Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Germany
12/2007-3/2011 | Ph.D., Biological Chemistry, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
8/2011-2/2016 | Postdoctoral training, Molecular and Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
3/2016 | Joined the Department
Areas of Interest
Alternative splicing is a posttranscriptional mechanism that explains how individual genes can produce more than one transcript due to the inclusion or exclusion of specific regions originating multiple protein isoforms with diverse features. More than 90% of human genes undergo alternative splicing. This high prevalence raises the question of how developmental stage- and tissue-specific splicing influence protein function and how this regulation occurs.
In our lab we are interested on how alternative splicing regulates the expression of trafficking and membrane dynamics proteins in normal development and diseases. A second angle of the lab is how alternative splicing impacts on the functions of these proteins and thus in internal cell architecture and physiology. We are initially focused on striated muscles (heart and skeletal muscle) because we found that trafficking and membrane dynamics genes are regulated by splicing specifically in these tissues and some of them also in brain. Misregulation of membrane trafficking proteins is one hallmark of muscle and brain disorders. In particular, striated muscle cells have contractility primordial functions that require a very precise formation and maintenance of internal architecture through membrane invagination and trafficking processes. Receptors and ion channels need to be correctly transported to these locations to exert their key functions. We are studying the crosstalk between alternative splicing and membrane trafficking and its contribution to the maturation and maintenance of the myocyte exquisite architecture and functions.
Our lab utilizes a broad spectrum of approaches ranging from molecular biology, cell biology, and physiology techniques including animal models.
Awards and Honors (selected)
2018-2020 Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Award, March of Dimes Foundation
2018-2019 Pilot Research Grant $50K, NC TraCS
2017 Pilot Research Grant, Nutrition and Obesity Research Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2017 Junior Faculty Development Award, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2014 – 2016 Postdoctoral Fellowship, American Heart Association
2012 – 2016 Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Pew Charitable Trusts
2015 American Heart Association Spotlight award, 3rd Annual Cardiovascular Research Institute Symposium, Houston
2015 European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) travel award
2011 Gordon Research Conference travel award
2010 Carl Storm International Diversity Fellowship, Gordon Research Conference
2008 – 2009 Short Term Fellowship, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
2008 – 2009 Short Term Fellowship, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), gratefully declined
2008 – 2011 Predoctoral Fellowship Type I, National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Argentina
Affiliations
Department of Cell Biology and Physiology
McAllister Heart Institute
Curriculum in Cell Biology and Physiology
Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology