Mayana Zatz is Professor of Human and Medical Genetics. Director of the Human Genome Research Center (Hug-cell) and Nacional Program (INCT): aging and genetics: genomics and metagenomics, at the University of São Paulo ( USP). Graduaded in Biology, USP (1968), Ph.D. in Human and Medical Genetics at USP (1974), and post-doc in medical genetics (1975-1977) at University of California, USA. She is Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and Academy of Sciences for the developing world (TWAS). Was founder and president of the Brazilian Muscular Dystrophy Association (ABDIM) from 1981-2013. Her research in human and medical genetics, are focused mainly in stem-cells (as a tool to understand gene functioning and cell therapy) , aging and neuromuscular disorders focusing the following aspects: gene identification, genotype-phenotype correlations , and mechanisms underlying clinical variability. She is also investigating the use of zika virus against brain cancer. She has published 403 peer-reviewed papers , December 2024 ), which were cited ~ 11509 times (average 40 per paper international ; H index = 59 ;Publon); H=78 (Google Scholar, 26649 citations ), Scopus: H=62, 18357 citations . She has been the mentor of undergraduate and graduate students who presented 53 thesis. Was awarded several international prizes such as: L 'Oreal 's / UNESCO for Women in Science-as the best Latin American researcher in 2001 - TWAS for Research in Medical Sciences in 2004, Mexican Prize of Science and Technology in 2008 and Gaetano Conte in 2011. She was columnist of the weekly magazine VEJA having written more than 250 articles for lay people. She is currently columnist of @radiouspsp , where she discusses new scientific advances twice a month. She is the author of two books Gen ÉTICA and O LEGADO DOS GENES From 2010 to 2012 she was part of the board of revisors (BORE) of scientific journal Science. She has been actively Involved in ethical aspects related to genome research, genetic testing and scientific political decisions regarding the approval of the embryonic stem -cells bill in 2005 and 2008. Currently she is also investigating the genetic variability associated to COVID-19 clinical variability, zika virus against brain tumors and genetic variants of resilience in healthy centenarians and in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.(project MS-CNPq/coalizão) (Source: Lattes Curriculum)
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The Human Genome Research Center (HGRC-CEPID I) was initiated in 2000 with the main goal of increasing our basic knowledge and diagnosis of prevalent genetic diseases in the Brazilian population. The HGRC concentrated largely on Mendelian disorders, mainly neuromuscular, craniofacial, and mental disability. The scope was expanded in 2005 by incorporating stem-cel…
The Human Genome Research Center (HGRC-CEPID I) was initiated in 2000 with the main goal of increasing our basic knowledge and diagnosis of prevalent genetic diseases in the Brazilian population. The HGRC concentrated largely on Mendelian disorders, mainly neuromuscular, craniofacial, and mental disability. The scope was expanded in 2005 by incorporating stem-cel…
Healthy aging and longevity are a growing topic of interest. They depend on the complex interplay between nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, the environment and the microbiota, that is, the whole set of bacteria living in the different parts of our body with their whole set of genes. Understanding this complex nature versus nurture balance is one of the greatest challenges in human genetics a…
(Only some records are available in English at this moment)
Successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has been observed in countries equipped with resources that enable mass testing of the population, such as South Korea (Normile, 2020). With increasing international demand for laboratory supplies, countries such as Germany, Singapore and South Korea have been redirecting their industrial capacity to p…
Motivated by the growing need for transplantation-available organs and the latest developments in genomic editing technologies such as the CRISPR-Cas9 system, significant progress in the efficiency and safety of xenotransplantation techniques has been achieved in the last two years. Genetically engineered pigs developed to prevent receptor hyperacute immune rejection have been successfull…
Healthy aging and longevity are a growing topic of interest. They depend on the complex interplay between nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, the environment and the microbiota, that is, the whole set of bacteria living in the different parts of our body with their whole set of genes. Understanding this complex nature versus nurture balance is one of the greatest challenges in human genetics a…
(Only some records are available in English at this moment)
Developing new drugs is slow and expensive, especially because the assessment of cardiac and hepatic toxicity in preclinical trials frequently leads to compound rejection. Toxicity assessment primarily requires animal models, which are physiologically distinct from humans. To enhance the accuracy of drug screening, cardiomyocytes and hepatocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem…
(Only some records are available in English at this moment)
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a severe and progressive neuromuscular disorder caused by mutations in the DMD gene, which lead to the absence or dysfunction of dystrophin protein. This protein plays a crucial role in maintaining the structural integrity of muscle fibers, and its deficiency results in progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Despite significant advances in our u…
(Only some records are available in English at this moment)
Liver failure represents a global health crisis, with limited treatment options due to the shortage of donor organs. Alternatives like hepatocyte transplantation and bioartificial livers depend on functional, expandable hepatocytes, but existing cell models fail to preserve liver-specific functions in vitro. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) can be differentiated into hepatocy…
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) represents a severe and progressive neuromuscular condition, originating from mutations in the DMD gene. These mutations lead to the absence or malfunction of dystrophin, a crucial protein for maintaining the structure of muscle fibers. The deficiency of this protein results in continuous muscle degeneration and strength loss. Although there have been not…
Zika Virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus, has attracted attention due to its impact on the central nervous system (CNS), causing severe brain anomalies during human embryonic development, known as Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS). This BEPE proposal aims to unravel the intricate dynamics of ZIKV infection susceptibility and transcriptional expression in neural cells at different matur…
The liver is a crucial organ regarding metabolic, immune and homeostatic regulation. Chronic and acute liver diseases, congenital or behavioral, accounts for approximately 2 million deaths per year. The only therapeutic options to severe liver diseases are partial or total liver transplantation. Hepatic tissue engineering, allied to human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) technology…
This proposal investigates the potential protectiveness of Notch signaling modulation in muscle satellite cells (MuSC) of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) patients. Hypothesis: Modulation of the Notch pathway signaling may delay motor function impairment of DMD patients by conserving the MuSC pool. Previous studies: Our group showed that the enhanced expression of the Notch ligand, Jagge…
(Only some records are available in English at this moment)
| 4 / 4 | Ongoing grants |
| 21 / 14 | Completed research grants |
| 12 / 12 | Ongoing scholarships in Brazil |
| 74 / 36 | Completed scholarships in Brazil |
| 2 / 2 | Ongoing scholarships abroad |
| 4 / 4 | Completed scholarships abroad |
| 117 / 72 | All research grants and scholarships |
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