Dr. María Angélica Gutiérrez Nava holds a Bachelor's degree in Pharmaceutical Biological Chemistry from UNAM. She obtained her Master's and Doctorate degrees in Science with a specialization in Biotechnology from CINVESTAV, Zacatenco Campus, with theses titled "Identification of glucanases produced by Cellulomonas flavigena growing on different carbon sources" and "Isolation, characterization, and expression of the celcflB gene from Cellulomonas flavigena encoding an endoglucanase," respectively.

In 1993, she conducted a research stay at the Department of Cellular Biology at CINVESTAV with the project "Establishment and characterization of a primary culture of rat fetus hepatocytes for the study of cancer initiation process," under the guidance of Biol. Samia Fattel Fazenda and Dr. Saúl Villa Treviño.

With the CONACyT mixed scholarship program, during her doctoral studies, she conducted a research stay at the Department of Biochemical and Food Engineering at INSA in Toulouse, France, with the project "Characterization and optimization of DNA chips. Application in the transcriptome analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae." Subsequently, in 2003, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Laboratory of Biological Systems Engineering and Processes of the same institute, focusing on the design and production of antibody microarrays of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, both stays under the supervision of Dr. Jean Marie François.

She was a Full-time Research Professor from September 2004 to March 2010 at the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo. She taught courses such as "biotechnology," "malt and beer," and "science and technology of beverages" in the Food Chemistry undergraduate program at the Chemical Research Center, where she began her research work with probiotic microorganisms.

Currently, she is a Research Professor at the Department of Biological Systems at UAM Xochimilco. She teaches the module "Obtaining industrial metabolites for health" in the eleventh trimester of the Pharmaceutical Biological Chemistry undergraduate program.

She has participated in various committees, including being a member of the "Editorial Committee of the Division of Biological and Health Sciences," member of the "Academic Committee of the Master's Degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences," coordinator of the "Service Social Commission of QFB," and advisor of the "Commission in charge of reviewing and harmonizing the Guidelines for the provision and accreditation of Social Service in the undergraduate programs of the Division of Biological and Health Sciences of the UAM."

Research, teaching, and human resource training are her main activities at UAM. She has supervised approximately 25 undergraduate and 8 graduate thesis projects, all related to probiotic microorganisms.

Her research is aimed at preventing inflammatory and metabolic alterations in liver diseases through the consumption of probiotics, prebiotics, and/or phytochemicals. This work has been developed in collaboration with Dr. Julio Isael Pérez Carreón, from the National Institute of Genomic Medicine.

Her research lines include:

Study of the effect of bifidobacteria administration on the modulation of hepatic damage marker expression in a rat chemical hepatocarcinogenesis model.
Influence of bifidobacteria and prebiotics administration on nodule induction in a rat chemical hepatocarcinogenesis model.
Molecular identification of bifidobacteria.
Study of the effect of probiotic administration on lipid metabolism in a non-alcoholic fatty liver model, in rats fed a high-fat and fructose diet.
Design, obtaining, and characterization of enteric-release products based on probiotics.

Some recent publications include:

Torres Mena J., Salazar Villegas K., Sánchez Rodríguez R., López Gabiño B., Del Pozo Yauner L., Arellanes Robledo J., Villa Treviño S., Gutiérrez Nava A., Pérez Carreón J. 2018. Aldo-Keto reductases as early biomarkers on hepatocellular carcinoma: A comparison between animal models and human HCC. Digestive Diseases and Sciences. 63(4):934-944. doi: 10.1007/s10620-018-4943-5
Reyes Castillo P., González Vázquez R., Gutiérrez Nava A., Mendoza Pérez F., Navarro González M., Salgado Aguayo A., Torres Maravilla E., Mayorga reyes L., Azaola Espinosa A. 2019. Anthropometric measure and adipokine levels of a young undergraduate population with a usual diet. Nutrición Hospitalaria. 36(1):80-86. doi: 10.20960/nh.1894
Sánchez Portilla Z., Melgoza Contreras L., Reynoso Camacho R., Pérez Carreón J., Gutiérrez Nava A. 2020. Incorporation of Bifidobacterium sp. into powder products through a fluidized bed process for enteric targeted release. Journal of Dairy Science. 103(12):11129-11137. ISSN: 0022-0302 doi: 10.3168/jds.2020-18516.
Herrera-López Ema Elvira, Guerrero-Escalera Dafne, Aguirre-Maldonado Isaac, López-Hernández Arely, Montero Hilda, Gutiérrez-Nava María Angélica, del Pozo-Yauner Luis, Arellanes-Robledo Jaime, Camacho Javier & Pérez-Carreón Julio Isael. 2023. Annexins A2 and A5 are potential early biomarkers of hepatocarcinogenesis. Scientific reports. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34117-8. IMPACT FACTOR: 4.996. ISSN 2045-2322 (online)
Reyes-Castillo Pedro A., González-Vázquez Raquel, Torres-Maravilla Edgar, Bautista-Hernández Jessica I., Zúñiga-León Eduardo, Leyte-Lugo Martha, Mateos-Sánchez Leovigildo, Mendoza-Pérez Felipe, Gutiérrez-Nava María Angélica, Reyes-Pavón Diana, Azaola-Espinosa Alejandro, Mayorga-Reyes Lino. 2023. Bifidobacterium longum LBUX23 with potential probiotic properties isolated from feces of a newborn and its genomic characterization. Microorganisms. 24;11(7):1648. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11071648. PMID: 37512821; PMCID: PMC10385183. IMPACT FACTOR: 4.926.