Nerea Muniozguren (Ph.D.)

Graduate Student (Ph.D.)
Email: 
nerea.muniozguren@lifesci.ucsb.edu
Office: 
Main lab - 2203 Life Sciences Building

Education

  • B.S., University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain.
  • M.S., University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain.

Awards & Honors

  • 2019 Outstanding Student Award, MCDB-UCSB.
  • 2019 Best Poster Award, Southern California RNA Meeting.
  • 2017-18 Charles A. Storke Graduate Fellowship, MCDB-UCSB.
  • 2018 Doreen J. Putrah Cancer Research Foundation Conference Fellowship, MCDB-UCSB.
  • 2017 International Doctoral Recruitment Fellowship, MCDB-UCSB.
  • 2012 Master's Student Scholarship, The Basque Government.
  • 2012 Master's Student Scholarship, The University of the Basque Country.

Biography

Nerea earned a B.S. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of The Basque Country in Spain, where she worked as a laboratory assistant for the most part of her last two years as an undergraduate student. She became so inspired by research that she carried-out her bachelor’s thesis project in the lab where she worked as an assistant. During this time she discovered an unbridled passion for research and mentoring, which was largely driven by the strong positive effect her mentors had on her career. After earning her M.S. degree in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine at the University of The Basque Country, she decided  to visit California. She became a research associate in the lab of Ted Powers in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at UC Davis. Seeing how the graduate students and postdoctoral scholars worked in a fast paced and dynamic research setting was truly inspiring, and drove her decision to continue her graduate studies here at UCSB.

When Nerea is not in lab you can find her traveling, running, hiking and spending time with her friends and family.

 

Publications

1. Vlahakis A, Lopez Muniozguren N, Powers T. Stress-response transcription factors Msn2 and Msn4 couple TORC2-Ypk1 signaling and mitochondrial respiration to ATG8 gene expression and autophagy. Autophagy. 2017;13(11):1804-1812. PMID: 29198169.

2. Vlahakis A, Lopez Muniozguren N, Powers T. Mitochondrial respiration links TOR complex 2 signaling to calcium regulation and autophagy. Autophagy. 2017 Jul 3;13(7):1256-1257. PMID: 28324658.

3. Vlahakis A, Lopez Muniozguren N, Powers T. Calcium channel regulator Mid1 links TORC2-mediated changes in mitochondrial respiration to autophagy. J Cell Biol. 2016 Dec 19;215(6):779-788. PMID: 27899413.

Research Area

Nerea is interested in the mechanisms by which cells sense harmful RNAs and react to them.

Research Areas