Dr. Ana Mingorance-Le Meur

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University of British Columbia
Medicine
Cellular and Physiological Sciences
Postdoctoral FellowAppointed: 2006
Professional Headshot of Ana Mingorance-Le Meur

Mailing Address

University of British Columbia
Dept. of Cellular and Physiological Sciences
2350 Health Sciences Mall
Room 3320
Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3
Canada

Contact Information

Phone: (604) 822-1705
alemeur@interchange.ubc.ca

Qualifications

Ph.D., University of Barcelona, Neuroscience, 2006.
DEA, University of Barcelona, Neuroscience, 2004.
B.Sc., University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Biology, 2001.

Previous Positions

2002-2006, Graduate Student, University of Barcelona, (UB), Cellular Biology
2000-2001, Internal Student (Undergraduate), University of La Laguna, (ULL), Cellular Biology

Expertise and Research Interests

I am currently finishing my 3rd year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at UBC. My research focuses on neuronal morphological plasticity. More precisely, I'm interested in how neurites gain or lose their capacity to sprout new branches. The ultimate goal of this research is to identify targets to enhance the intrinsic plasticity of neurons and promote CNS recovery. We have already discovered a pathway that represses neurite sprouting along the shaft and described two methods to enhance neuronal plasticity in vitro and in vivo using pharmaceutical and genetic manipulations (EMBO Journal).

In a second research line, I am exploring whether these molecular regulators of neurite shape and plasticity also control the morphology of oligodendrocyte progenitors (OPCs) or in neuronal stem cell biology. Because OPCs undergo a morphological change in parallel to differentiation, we want to explore to what extent morphology and differentiation are molecularly linked. For this project we have developed a simplified protocol to produce pure OPC cultures using neuronal stem cells.

Expertise:
* Molecular and cellular biology
* Neuroscience signal transduction
* In vitro models
* Developmental neurobiology
* Neuronal plasticity
* Axonal regeneration

Other Expertise

During my PhD thesis, I researched the role of some myelin-related proteins in restricting axonal regeneration in the central nervous system. A number of proteins present in myelin are inhibitory for neurite outgrowth, which contributes the extremely limited regeneration capacity of the CNS. Using several in vitro models, we explored the functions of some of these inhibitors in the context of the cortico-hippocampal connection (the perforant pathway). In addition to this research line, I think one of the most remarkable parts of my work during those years was the characterization of the myelin-associated inhibitor Nogo-A as a protein involved in cortical development.

As a result of this work, we:
* Validated the involvement of Nogo-A and NgR in the prevention of axonal regeneration of a cortical connection.
* Demonstrated the benefit of targeting Nogo-A, NgR and proteoglycans after injury to promote axonal regeneration.
* Described a novel population of reactive mature oligodendrocytes based on MAG overexpression.
* Provided the first description of the myelin-associated inhibitor Nogo-A during brain development and characterized the phenotype of Nogo-A mutant mice.

The thesis is available on-line:
http://www.tesisenxarxa.net/TDX-0405106-121116/

Honors and Awards

2008, First Prize for the best poster presentation, MipTec drug discovery meeting (Basel, Switzerland)
2007, Society for Neuroscience Chapters, Postdoctoral Travel Award (merit award)
2007, Gordon Hielbert Award, best poster at the ICORD Meeting (Vancouver, Canada)
2006-2008, EMBO Long-Term Fellowship, European Molecular Biology Organization, University of British Columbia, Postdoctoral Fellowship
2006-2009, MSFHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, University of British Columbia, Honorary award
2004-2006, FPU Fellowship, Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, Ph.D. Fellowship
2002-2004, Research and Teaching Training Fellowship, University of Barcelona, Ph.D. Fellowship
2000-2001, Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, University of La Laguna, Spain

Publications

  • Mingorance-Le Meur A (2009) Internal regulation of neurite plasticity: A general model, Communicative and Integrative Biology, 2 (4)
  • Mingorance-Le Meur A, O'Connor TP (2009) Neurite consolidation is an active process requiring constant repression of protrusive activity., The EMBO Journal, 28, 248-260
  • Mingorance-Le Meur A*, Mohebiany AN*, O'Connor TP (2009) Varicones and growth cones: two neurite terminals in PC12 cells., PLoS ONE, 4 (2), e4334 Abstract
  • Mingorance-Le Meur A, Zheng B, Soriano E, del Río JA (Oct 2007) Involvement of the myelin-associated inhibitor Nogo-A in early cortical development and neuronal maturation., Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 17 (10), 2375-86 Abstract
  • Pascual M, Abasolo I, Mingorance-Le Meur A, Martínez A, Del Rio JA, Wright CV, Real FX, Soriano E (Mar 2007) Cerebellar GABAergic progenitors adopt an external granule cell-like phenotype in the absence of Ptf1a transcription factor expression., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104 (12), 5193-8 Abstract
  • Mingorance-Le Meur A (Nov 2006) JNK gives axons a second chance., The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 26 (47), 12104-5 Abstract
  • Burgaya F, Fontana X, Martínez A, Montolio M, Mingorance A, Simó S, del Río JA, Soriano E (Nov 2006) Semaphorin 6C leads to GSK-3-dependent growth cone collapse and redistributes after entorhino-hippocampal axotomy., Molecular and cellular neurosciences, 33 (3), 321-34 Abstract
  • Gil V, Nicolas O, Mingorance A, Ureña JM, Tang BL, Hirata T, Sáez-Valero J, Ferrer I, Soriano E, del Río JA (May 2006) Nogo-A expression in the human hippocampus in normal aging and in Alzheimer disease., Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology, 65 (5), 433-44 Abstract
  • Mingorance A, Solé M, Munetón V, Martínez A, Nieto-Sampedro M, Soriano E, del Río JA (Mar 2006) Regeneration of lesioned entorhino-hippocampal axons in vitro by combined degradation of inhibitory proteoglycans and blockade of Nogo-66/NgR signaling., The FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 20 (3), 491-3 Abstract
  • Gavín R, Braun N, Nicolas O, Parra B, Ureña JM, Mingorance A, Soriano E, Torres JM, Aguzzi A, del Río JA (Aug 2005) PrP(106-126) activates neuronal intracellular kinases and Egr1 synthesis through activation of NADPH-oxidase independently of PrPc., FEBS letters, 579 (19), 4099-106 Abstract
  • Mingorance A, Fontana X, Soriano E, Del Río JA (Jul 2005) Overexpression of myelin-associated glycoprotein after axotomy of the perforant pathway., Molecular and cellular neurosciences, 29 (3), 471-83 Abstract
  • Mingorance A, Garcia E, del Rio JA (2004) Nogo, myelin and axonal regeneration, Contributions to Science, 2 (4), 499-512
  • Mingorance A, Fontana X, Solé M, Burgaya F, Ureña JM, Teng FY, Tang BL, Hunt D, Anderson PN, Bethea JR, Schwab ME, Soriano E, del Río JA (May 2004) Regulation of Nogo and Nogo receptor during the development of the entorhino-hippocampal pathway and after adult hippocampal lesions., Molecular and cellular neurosciences, 26 (1), 34-49 Abstract
  • Mingorance A, Soriano-García E, del Rio JA, [Nogo-A functions during the development of the central nervous system and in the adult], Revista de neurologia, 39 (5), 440-6 Abstract

Languages

(Reading, Writing, Speaking)

English: (Fluent, Fluent, Fluent)
Spanish: (Fluent, Fluent, Fluent)
French: (Fluent, Basic, Functional)

Profile Details

Last Updated: 4/9/2009

COS Expertise ID #1231087
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