Victor Loyola-Vargas, PhD.

Colorado State University
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
217 Shepardson, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1173
Phone: (970) 491-4266
Fax: (970) 491-7745
E-mail: vmloyola@cicy.mx

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Biochemistry (1983), National Autonomous University of Mexcio.

Master's, Nuclear Chemistry (1973), National Autonomous University of Mexico.

B.S., Chemistry (1970), Autonomous University of Queretaro, Queretaro, Mexico.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Research Professor Level D, Centro de Investigacion de Yucatan, Mexico

1987-to date Faculty of CICY
Highlights:

Established the Biochemistry Department

Founded Masters and PhD programs in Science and Biotechnology of Plants

Past director of the Biochemistry Department

Past Chairman of the Biology Division

Past Director of the Experimental Biology Unit

Academic Director at CICY

HONORS, MEMBERSHIPS AND AWARDS

1. President of the Scientific Committee of the XXXIX National Congress of Chemistry, 2004
2. National Chemistry Award, 1999
3. Recognized by the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences of Cuba, 1998
4. Cum laude from the Excellence in Research Program at CONACYT, 1997
5. Received Prize in Sciences: Leopoldo de la Loza, 1990
6. Served on the editorial board of the Journal of Plant Physiology
7. Served on the editorial board of the Mexican Chemical Society Journal
8. Chairman of the Third Mexico-U.S. Symposium in Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
9. Chairman of the 42nd Symposium of the Phytochemical Society of North America
10. President of the Phytochemical Society of North America
11. Regional President of the Mexican Academy of Sciences
12. Member of the National Resaerch System at the highest level
13. Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences since 1987

Research:
My scientific production includes 111 papers in research journals and 32 book chapters, as well as more than 25 divulgation papers and books. My papers had received more than 700 citations. I have served as a thesis adviser for 13 Ph. D. candidates, 18 Masters in Sciences candidates, and 64 undergraduate students.
I have taught 56 different courses since the beginning of my scientific career, at the graduate and undergraduate level, including Plant Tissue Culture, Secondary Metabolism, Plant Biotechnology, Proteomics, among others, and 35 special courses in the universities of Querétaro, Yucatán, Chihuahua, Mexico State, Metropolitan University, National University of Mexico and the Technology Institute of Mérida as well in Research International Centers like the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Cali, Colomobia and the Fundation for Advanced Studies in Caracas, Venezuela.
My current research interest is the production of secondary metabolites by plant tissue cultures, and the molecular and biochemical aspects of their biosynthesis and transport. Using plant cell cultures, especially hairy root cultures, and biochemistry, I have developed several biotechnological approaches in order to use these cultures to produce chemicals. My work in this area helped to establish the foundation of several metabolic processes that could eventually be manipulated by genetic engineering to affect secondary metabolism in Catharanthus roseus.

Divulgation and promotion of science:
I have written more than 25 papers about the diffusion of science. I have also spoken at more than 100 conferences in congresses and universities in several countries around the word: Mexico, Canada, United States, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Finland.

Major contributions to science:
I have demonstrated that the enzyme glutamate dehydrogenase has an active anabolic role under stress conditions (Plant Physiol. 76: 536-540, 1984). The elucidation of the metabolic pathway used by Canavalia ensiformis, a member of leguminosae family, to utilize its nitrogen reserve (J. Plant Physiol., 132: 284-288, 1988; 289-293, 1988). Together with Dr. Miranda, we demonstrated that an increase in the proline pool during water stress stabilizes the enzymatic activity of vital proteins of the cells (J. Plant Physiol., 129: 169-174, 1987). Our group presented the first biochemical evidence of the multiple isoforms presence of cytochrome P-450 reductase in plants (In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Plant, 37: 622 – 628, 2001), and also of the enzyme 10-oxogeranial: iridodial cyclase in Catharanthus roseus (Phyton, in press).
We generated the first maize tissue culture from mature embryos (Ann. Appl. Biol., 98: 347-353, 1981). We developed a research line, that did not exist in Mexico, about the production of secondary metabolites from plant tissue culture, using as a models Catharanthus roseus and Datura stramonium, in which many students obtained their degrees from undergraduates to Ph.D. and now some of them are working as independent researchers (Plant Cell Rep., 10: 537-540, 1991; Phytochem. Anal., 3: 117-121, 1992; Plant Cell Tiss. Org. Cult., 33: 321-329, 1993; Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol., 38: 257-267, 1993; J. Plant Physiol., 142: 244-247, 1993; Plant Cell Rep., 16: 287 - 290, 1997; Plant Cell Tiss. Org. Cult., 54: 123 - 130, 1998; J. Plant Physiol., 155: 447 - 452, 1999; Biotechnol. Lett., 22: 921 – 925, 2000; Biotechnol. Lett., 21: 1017 – 1021, 1999; Biotechnol. Lett., 22: 921 – 925, 2000; Biotechnol. Lett., 23: 1341 – 1343, 2001; Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol., 97: 135 – 145, 2002; Mol. Biotechnol., 21: 211 – 216, 2002; Mol. Biotechnol. 23: 11-18, 2003; Biotechnol. Lett., 25: 1345 – 1349, 2003; J. Plant Physiol., 162: 393 – 402, 2005).
We have been pioneers in the use of hairy roots as an experimental model for the study of the alkaloids biosynthesis, and its uses for the study of the role of the differentiation process in the biosynthesis of natural products, e.g. we demonstrated that chloroplasts play an important role in the biosynthesis of serpentine, we also produced the first photoautotrophic hairy roots culture (In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol., 28P: 67-72, 1992; J. Plant Physiol., 140: 213-217, 1992; Plant Physiol., 101: 363-371, 1993; In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol., 30P: 84-88, 1994; Plant Cell Tiss. Org. Cult., 38: 273-279, 1994; Plant Cell Tiss. Org. Cult., 40: 197-208, 1995; Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol., 61: 321 - 337, 1996; Plant Cell Rep., 18: 99 - 104, 1998; J. Plant Physiol., 155: 447 - 452, 1999; Biotechnol. Lett., 21: 1017 – 1021, 1999; Plant Cell Tiss. Org. Cult., 59: 9 –17, 1999; Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol., 97: 135 – 145, 2002; Mol. Biotechnol., 21: 211 – 216, 2002; Mol. Biotechnol. 23: 11-18, 2003; Biotechnol. Lett., 25: 1345 – 1349, 2003). The use of C. roseus hairy roots led the discovery of the alkaloid 19-S-epimiciline (Nat. Prod. Lett., 11: 217 - 224, 1998).
We also demonstrated that penicillin can act as an auxin promoting the growth of the plant cells (Phytochem., 28: 2659-2662, 1989). This discovery has led to the elimination of penicillin as a cleaning agent in transformed tissues.
We have established sucessful protocols for the massive propagation of coffee, both through micropropagation and somatic embryogenesis (Biotechnol. Lett., 23: 1341 – 1343, 2001; Plant Cell Rep., 20: 679 – 684, 2001; Plant Cell Rep., 20: 1141 – 1149, 2002; Plant Sci., 164: 141 – 146, 2003; Mol. Biotechnol., 23: 107 – 116, 2003; In vitro, 40: 95-101, 2004), for the study of the gene expression during the somatic embryogenesis of coffee (Mol. Biotechol., 21: 43 – 50 2002; Plant Sciences, 163: 705 – 711 2002; J. Plant Physiol., 159: 1267-1270, 2002), the study of the somaclonal variation produced in tissue culture (Plant Sci., 164: 141 – 146, 2003; Mol. Biotechnol., 23: 107 – 116, 2003), coffee transformation (Plant Tiss. Org. Cult. in press) and the biosynthesis and degradation of caffeine in coffee. This model let us to determinate that caffeine biosynthesis is regulated by light. We also founded the cause why coffee seeds lose their viability very fast (Seed Sci. Technol., 30: 119 – 129, 2002).
We also have demonstrated that the toxicity by aluminum targets a signal transduction pathway in coffee; further more polyamines play an important role in the answer (Plant Cell Rep., 20: 469 – 474, 2001; J. Plant Physiol., 158: 1375 – 1379, 2001; J. Bioinorg. Chem., 97: 69 – 78, 2003; J. Plant. Physiol., 160: 1297-1303, 2003; Physiol. Plant., 120: 140 – 151, 2004; Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 2005 in press)