María Fernández Lobato

Name: María Fernández Lobato
Present professional position: Full Professor
Organism: Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM)
Institute: Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBMSO)
Department/Section/Structural Division: Dept. Molecular Biology
Address: Nicolas Cabrera Str.1, 28049 Madrid
Telephone (indicative prefix, number and extension): +34-911964492

Career History (summary)
01/2012-present Professor at University Autonoma of Madrid (UAM)..
11/1989 – 12/2011 Lecturer in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dept. Molecular Biology, CBMSO
07/1988 – 10/1989 Post-doctoral Fellow (Dept. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UAM).
01/1986 – 06/1987 Post-doctoral Fellow (Dept. Biochemistry, King´s College, London University; UK.
01/1985 – 12/1985 Post-doctoral Fellow (Dept. Biochemistry, Pharmacy Faculty, University of Sevilla,
Spain).
01/1985 Ph.D. Thesis Defense (Biochemistry, UAM).
01/1981 – 12/1984 PhD student (Dept. Biochemistry, Fac. Science, UAM).
07/1981 M.Sc. Thesis Defense (Biochemistry, UAM).
06/1980 Degree awarded: Graduate Biology, Biochemistry Specialty, UAM.

Main achievements
Professor at University Autónoma Madrid, Spain.
Supervision of 10 PhD Students and more than 25 Master (and equivalent) Students
Direction of several PhD courses on biotechnology
Coordinator and Director of the Master in Biotechnology UAM (Mention International Excelente
MEE2011-0504).
Research Group Leader at the Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), Madrid,
Spain.
Research Group Leader at the University Autónoma Madrid, Spain.
4 Six-year research recognized by the National Evaluation of Research Activity. Ministry of Science and
Innovation.

Recent main research achievements
Obtaining and genetic improvement of industrial yeasts with amylolytic capacity.
Characterization and analysis of the biosynthetic routes of the aminonucleoside antibiotics: puromycin and A201A from Streptomyces.
Biochemistry and molecular characterization of new enzymes from yeasts (genera: Schwanniomyces, Phaffia,Rhodotorula) that produce prebiotics sugars.
Clarify the structure-function relationship of the first yeast protein included in family 32 of the glycosyl hydrolases,assign a functional role to the beta sandwich domain present in all this family members, and prove that oligomerization is involved directly in substrate recognition and specificity.

Training output
Total number of PhD theses supervised: 10
Total number of other supervised personnel: 30, among master and degree projects/visiting scientists/laboratory technicians, etc.
Hours per year of undergraduate/graduate teaching: 280-300 h (University Degrees: Biology, Biochemistry, Food Technology)

Overall Publication Record
Total number of publications in International Scientific Journals: 57
Chapters in collective volumes: 5
Current h index: 16
Average Impact: 3.49
Total number of citations: ~500
Over 50 Contributed Presentations at National or International Conferences and Symposia.

Participation in Public and Private Financed R&D Projects
Total number of suported projects in competitive calls: 19.
National (Spanish): 17; European: 2 (Principal Investigator: Antonio Jiménez).
Supported Projects as Principal Investigator: 6
Participation in R & D contracts with companies as Principal Investigator: 3 (By a total about 110 000 €).

Registered Patents
Total number of Registered Patents: 7,
Patents covered with PCT: 4 (PCT/ES2005/070177; PCT-ES2006/000435; PCT-ES2006/000693; PCTES2010/070104).
PCT/ES2005/070177 Patent was awarded with First prize in the competition “Best patent from Madrid+d 2008”.
International Patents: 3 patents extended to USA (USA No. 11/721,942; USA No. 11/997,233; USA No. 12/159,164),
3 patents in Europe (EP 05825223.0; EP 06807883.1; EP 06841745-0), one patent in Japan (No. 2008-547993).
All International Patents funded by Genome Spain Foundation

Awards and Competitive Fellowships
Best Patent in the Madrid Region (Madri+d 2008), sponsored by Madrid Government.
FPU Grant (PhD) of the Ministry of Education and Science, Spain (1981-1984).
Postdoctoral Grant of Ramón Areces Foundation, Madrid, Spain (1985).
Postdoctoral Grant CSIC for research abroad (1986-1987).
Postdoctoral-return-to Spain Grant from Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (1987).