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Member of Scientific Advisory Committee of UNU-BIOLAC receives 2010 Loreal-UNESCO Award in Life Sciences
21 October, 2009
Dr. Alejandra Bravo, a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of UNU-BIOLAC, is a recipient of the prestigious 2010 L'ORÉAL-UNESCO Award in the Life Sciences from Latin America.
Alejandra Bravo is a world's leading scientist in the field of biological control of insect pests using Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins. Insects are one of the main problems in agriculture and human health since they cause important crop-losses and transmit infectious diseases as dengue and malaria. Chemical insecticides pollute the environment and are toxic to other organisms, including humans. In contrast Bt toxins are highly specific against insects and biodegradable. Despite the worldwide use of these toxins in agriculture and in human health, their mechanism of action was not completely understood until recently.
Professor Bravo's pioneering research has demonstrated the molecular events that result in toxicity providing a model of the action of these toxins, globally known as Bravo's model. Among her most interesting improvements of the toxin is the isolation of dominant negative toxins that block toxicity of wild type toxin and that will be useful to develop antitoxins to circunvent Cry-toxic action in specific endangered environments. Most important are her modifications in the Cry toxins that allow to evade insect-resistance to Cry toxins and that represent an important alternative to control insect resistance in the field.
Prof. Bravo has received many awards, including recognition of Mexican Academy of Sciences. Alongside her research, she is engaged in a social program for the control of mosquitoes, vectors of human diseases, with Bt based products and has played key roles in Bioethical Committees and contributed as expert advisor in UNU-BioLac, that promotes biotechnology and development in Latin America.
For official information on the award, click here.
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Page last modified 2009.11.02.
