Research interests
• Pharmacogenomics
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Molecular human genetics
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Molecular genetics of neurological disorders
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Population genetics
Profile
Professor Marisol López López is a Biology Pharmaceutical Chemist who graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) with an Honorable Mention; later, she carried out postgraduate studies: Master's in Science (Molecular Biology) at the UNAM Faculty of Sciences, where she obtained the Gabino Barreda Medal and received a Doctorate in Biomedical Sciences (Biochemistry) at the UNAM Faculty of Medicine.
Professor López has published 90 scientific articles (with 1454 citations), 11 popular articles, 25 book chapters, and four collective textbooks. Her first investigations were in molecular biology of plasmids in bacteria of clinical importance, followed by studies related to disorders of human sexual differentiation that impacted knowledge of molecular genetics and cytogenetics, providing relevant information in an era where knowledge of these disorders was limited and contributing with 24 scientific articles in this area.
Subsequently, she conducted significant research in the field of neurological disease genetics providing 24 scientific articles on Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, von Hippel-Lindau disease, prion diseases, cerebral vascular event, epilepsy, ectodermal dysplasia, and Niemann-Pick disease among other disorders. This research and publications on neurogenetics led her to establish a research agreement with the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery Manuel Velasco Suárez (INNNMVS) signed on May 28, 2002 and effective to date without interruptions, with more than 20 research projects approved by the INNNMVS, and having won 8 awards at the Institute's Annual Research Meeting.
She is a pioneer in Mexico and one of the leading national and international researchers in pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine. In 2005, she published the original article "CYP2D6 genotype and phenotype determination in a Mexican Mestizo population," where for the first time, the frequency of slow and ultra-fast metabolizing in Mexican mestizo individuals for the metabolizing enzyme of CYP2D6 drugs of significant clinical relevance was determined. Since then, she has carried out studies on the genetic structure of the Mexican mestizo population and various ethnic populations of Mexico, contributing to the knowledge of the diversity and inter-individual variability of the Mexican population associated with response, metabolism, and adverse reactions to drugs. In addition to contributing to personalized medicine in Mexican patients with neurological and psychiatric diseases, another of her main investigations was published in the journal of Molecular Psychiatry-Nature (impact factor 11.973) with the name of "CYP2D6 ultrarapid metabolism and early dropout from fluoxetine or amitriptyline monotherapy treatment in major depressive patients", demonstrating that patients with major depression with ultrametabolizing phenotype for CYP2D6 are associated with a low adherence to treatment, this information contributes to improve clinical practice in patients under psychiatric treatment.
Professor López is a member of the Iberoamerican Network of Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics (SIFF-RIBEF; www.ribef.com) and of the CEIBA Consortium for the pharmacogenetic study of Iberoamerican populations, being responsible for the group in Mexico. To date, ten international scientific articles have been published in this consortium. She is also an honorary member of the Mexican Association of Human Genetics, A.C. and the Mexican Academy of Sciences.
Information provided by the academic staff