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Born on March 1, 1960
María Ángela Nieto Toledano (born Madrid, March 1, 1960) is a Spanish scientist, with a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, who works at the Alicante Institute of Neurosciences —a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH). -
what did you get your doctorate in?
He received his doctorate from the Autonomous University of Madrid in 1987 for his work on protein-nucleic acid interactions (CBM SO CSIC-UAM, with Enrique Palacián as thesis director) -
Where did he move to in 1988?
In 1988, he moved to the AS Biomedical Research Institute in Madrid to study programmed cell death with Abelardo-López-Rivas. -
In 1989, he joined the National Institute
In 1989, he joined the National Institute for Medical Research in London to work with David Wilkinson to isolate genes involved in the development of the nervous system. -
In 1993 he obtained a position as Senior Scientist (CSIC) at the Cajal Institute in Madrid
In 1993 he obtained a position as Senior Scientist (CSIC) at the Cajal Institute in Madrid, and since then he has directed a group interested in cell movements during embryonic development and adult pathologies. They characterized the Snail family of transcription factors, showing their crucial role in the induction of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in embryos (1992-1994; i.e. Science 1994). -
In 2000, with Amparo Cano, they showed that Snail is a potent repressor of E-cadherin
In 2000, with Amparo Cano, they showed that Snail is a potent repressor of E-cadherin, conferring migratory properties and activating in the tumor invasion front (Nat Cell Biol., 2000). -
She was promoted to Research Professor in 2004 and that year she moved with her group to Alicante, to the Institute of Neurosciences (CSIC-UMH).
There they have found that the reactivation of Snail in the adult kidney is sufficient and necessary to induce fibrosis and renal failure, and that its blocking can reverse the induced fibrosis in several animal models, which has allowed proposing a new antifibrotic therapy (EMBO J. , 2006; Nature Medicine, 2015). -
Period: to
from 2004 to 2021 he has won awards
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Rey Jaime I Research Award
Rey Jaime I Research Award (2009) -
Member of Europæa Academy (since 2009)
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Spanish Selection of Science (2015)
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Technology Award (2017)
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Santiago Ramón y Cajal National Research Award (2019)