Andrés Carrasco

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Andrés Carrasco (* 1946 ; † May 10, 2014 ) was an Argentine physician , molecular and developmental biologist . From 2000 to 2001 he was President of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and a member of the Research Institute for Cell Biology and Neuroscience (IBCN, CONICET-UBA) and the Laboratory for Molecular Embryology of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario . He campaigned against monocultures and agricultural corporations.

life and work

Carrasco was born in 1946 and received his PhD from the University of Buenos Aires in the Faculty of Medicine in 1971 . He stayed at the University of Buenos Aires until 1981, teaching physiology , cell biology and embryology . Then he went to Switzerland to the Biocenter of the University of Basel and worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Eddy de Robertis' laboratory . In 1984, together with William McGinnis, he cloned and sequenced the first homeobox gene of a vertebrate in Walter Gehring's laboratory in the clawed frog ( Xenopus laevis ) of the Hox gene type, which was previously only detected in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster , named after him as Andrés Carrasco 1 (AC1) and known today as Hoxc6. This discovery made it possible to prove that the Hox genes, which are central to embryonic development in insects, are also found homologously in vertebrates. He further specialized in the field of molecular embryology and focused on the genetic control of embryonic development in vertebrates . In 1984 he went to Indiana University Bloomington as a Senior Research Fellow to George Malacinski , where he carried out the first in situ hybridization in Xenopus laevis , where he detected Hoxc6 in the late gastrula , neurula and tadpole and their spatial distribution. In 1988 Carrasco moved to Larry Etkin's laboratory at the University of Texas in Houston to use antisense oligonucleotide technology to switch off specific maternal mRNA in in-vitro fertilized oocytes , whereby he was able to determine that this is not necessary for embryonic development.

In 1990 Carrasco returned to Buenos Aires to set up the Department of Developmental Biology in Argentina. He mainly continued to work on the Hox genes and their regulation by retinoic acids , then on the Sonic Hedgehog signaling pathway and with the transmembrane proteins and retinoic acids in neurogenesis and the Notch signaling pathway during early embryogenesis. He was also involved in the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), of which he was President from 2000 to 2001, and as State Secretary for Scientific and Technological Innovation at the Ministry of Defense. He was also a long-time member of the Society for Developmental Biology.

Especially in the last years of his life he was concerned with the education about the potential consequences of the use of the herbicide glyphosate and its effects on the embryonic development of amphibians. With a research work on the effects of glyphosate-containing plant protection products and amphibians in 2009 he became known to a wider public. The work has been the subject of controversy .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c Fallció el Dr. Andrés Carrasco . Universidad Nacional de Rosario, May 13, 2015.
  2. ↑ Andrés E. Carrasco, William McGinnis, Walter J. Gehring, Eddy M. De Robertis: Cloning of an X. laevis gene expressed during early embryogenesis coding for a peptide region homologous to Drosophila homeotic genes. Cell 37 (2) June 1984; Pp. 409-414. doi: 10.1016 / 0092-8674 (84) 90371-4 .
  3. ↑ a b Bruce Blumberg: Andrés Carrasco (1946-2014) . In: Developmental Biology . tape 393 , no. 1 , September 2014, p. 1–2 , doi : 10.1016 / j.ydbio.2014.07.001 ( PDF ).
  4. ↑ Andres E. Carrasco, George M. Malacinski: Localization of Xenopus homoeo-box gene transcripts during embryogenesis and in the adult nervous system. Developmental Biology 121 (1), 1987; Pp. 69-81. doi: 10.1016 / 0012-1606 (87) 90139-4 .
  5. ↑ M. Kloc, M. Miller, AE Carrasco, E. Eastman, L. Etkin: The maternal store of the xlgv7 mRNA in full-grown oocytes is not required for normal development in Xenopus. Development 107, 1989; Pp. 899-907. PMID 2632239 ( PDF )
  6. ↑ Alejandra Paganelli, Victoria Gnazzo, Helena Acosta, Silvia L. López, Andrés E. Carrasco: Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Produce Teratogenic Effects on Vertebrates by Impairing Retinoic Acid Signaling . In: Chemical Research in Toxicology . tape 23 , no. 10 , August 2010, p. 1586–1595 , doi : 10.1021 / tx1001749 ( PDF ).

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personal data
SURNAME Carrasco, Andrés
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentinian doctor and activist
DATE OF BIRTH 1946
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 2014