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Dr. Alejandra Moenne

Charge: 
Biology Department. Marine Biotechnology Laboratory
E-mail: 
alejandra.moenne@usach.cl
Biography: 

Dr. Moenne was born in Concepción, Chile, and did  her primary and secondary education at the Alianza  Francesa de Concepción, Liceo Charles de Gaulle.  She then continued with her university studies at  the Universidad de Concepción and studied  Biochemistry (1979-1984) being awarded the  "Universidad de Concepción" Award for the best  graduate of the year 1984. She did her Doctoral  Thesis at the Commissariat de L'Enérgie Atomique  de Saclay, in Paris, France, under the supervision  of Dr. André Sentenac (1984-1989). She did a  postdoctoral degree at the Universidad Católica de  Chile (1990-1995), under the supervision of Dr.  Xavier Jordana. She was subsequently hired in 1995 at the  Universidad de Santiago de Chile as an assistant  professor, and later promoted to Associate  Professor in 2002 and Full Professor in 2012.

Research Area: 

During these last 20 years, she has worked on two  research areas:

  • Physiological, cellular and molecular mechanisms  of copper and cadmium tolerance and  accumulation in the marine algae Ulva compressa (Cholophyta)
  • Physiological, cellular, and molecular mechanisms  of growth stimulation and defense against  pathogens induced by oligo-carrageenans from  algae in terrestrial plants, mainly oligo 

    carrageenan kappa.

The execution of these two lines of research has  given rise to more than 30 publications in journals  such as Plant Physiology, Plant Cell and  Environment, Frontiers in Plant Science, BMC Plant  Biology, Algal Research, Aquatic Toxicology,  among others. In addition, she has participated in  the education of almost 20 undergraduate students  and 5 Doctoral students.