Ana María Gallardo Chaves
Ana María Gallardo Chaves is studying the Máster Universitario in Environmental, Industrial and Food Biotechnology at the Pablo de Olavide University (UPO). Her master’s project focuses on the isolation, study and characterisation of new antimicrobial drugs from natural sources. This project is part of a research collaboration between doctor Eva Camacho (microbiology professor at Pablo de Olavide University) and doctor Alejandro Díaz Moscoso. Ana joined our team as part of her master studies to perform the isolation and characterisation of compounds related to her project.
As result of her work, Ana María managed to isolate a molecule with antimicrobial activity against Micrococcus luteus, determine its chemical structure and characterise its biological activity. She also succeeded in isolating genes from a natural meta-library (extracted from the soil at Los Alcornocales Natural Park, in the province of Cádiz) able to produce another antimicrobial compound (that could not be isolated yet) when they are expressed in the lab under controlled conditions.
The work was published in the journal BIOSAIA. It can be read here.
