Irene Merino: PhD in Plant Biotechnology

PhD in Plant biotechnology with more than ten years of experience in molecular biology handling proteomic, genomic and transcriptomic techniques.

Up to now my research work has been mainly focused on different demanding topics within forest biotechnology: phytoremediation, biomass production, tree breeding selection, abiotic stress tolerance and plant propagation through somatic embryogenesis. During my postdoctoral training at SLU I also gained knowledge in statistical analyses and bioinformatics tools for sequencing data analysis.

I am passionate about applied science and I am always looking for opportunities to continue learning and acquiring new skills.

You can connect with me via irene@irenemerino.com or via LinkedIn, or download my résumé (PDF) .

2014	PhD, Plant Biotechnology	Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
2008	Research Proficiency Award: DEA	Forestry School of Madrid
2007	MSc, Biotechnology and Genetic Resources of Plants and their Associated Microorganisms, Agronomy and Forestry Schools of Madrid - Program with the Excellence Award of the Department of Education of Spain’s Government	Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
2002	BSc, School of Environmental Sciences	University of Cordoba

Postdoctoral Researcher	August 2014 – November 2016	SLU, Uppsala
Working within the framework of the EU project ProCoGen. Responsible for experimental design and conducting the experiments of the ProCoGen project focused on identifying relevant processes and transcripts involved in embryo development in Scots pine by using transcriptomic and genetic tools. Supervising and article writing.
Research scientist	February 2013 – April 2014	UPM, Madrid
Working within the framework of the EU project BIOXISOIL. “New approach to soil remediation by combining biological and chemical oxidation processes”. Responsible for selecting tree species for phytoremediation of the polluted area by performing different trial assays in greenhouses. Plantation design. Contacting plant nurseries and supervision of the plantation on-site. Sampling collection, data analyses and results report writing.
Research scientist	September 2010 - January 2013	UPM, Madrid
Working on different collaboration R&D innovation projects between the Polytechnic University of Madrid and several Spanish forestry companies. Responsible for conducting experiments within the research project aimed to improved growth and biomass production in poplar, and for the supervision of technicians, master and undergraduate students to carry out other research projects of the group.
PhD fellow	September 2006 – September 2010	UPM, Madrid
Working on my Thesis project. Using molecular, biochemical and bioinformatics tools to identify and functionally characterize major stress proteins in poplar and economically important species. Others responsibilities include day-to-day management of the laboratory, ordering new equipment and consumables, contributing to the teaching of new methods and protocols to others PhD and undergraduate students. Read more
Research internship	March 2005 – September 2006	UPM, Madrid
Working on a collaboration project between the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the forestry company Bosques Naturales, S.A. Responsible for conducting the experiments to analyse the accumulation of stress proteins to be used as markers for the company tree breeding selection program.
ISO 9001 quality manager	February 2004 – February 2005	Córdoba, Spain
Working on the implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS) according to the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 in three different small organizations.

Award

XI Competition of Business Ideas ACTUA-UPM. “Increasing sustainability and efficiency of bioenergy production with forest plantations” (2014). Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain.

Plant transformations

Biolistic transformation of arabidopsis plants

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of poplar

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of arabidopsis

Proteomics

SDS-PAGE (unidemensional)

SDS-PAGE (bidimensional)

Western

Genetics

qRT-PCR

Heterologous expression in E.coli and co-expression

In vitro culture

Poplar in vitro propagation

Shoot and callus induction of poplar

Technics summary

In vitro culture	Plant cell culture, plant tissue culture, callus culture, shoot induction, somatic embryogenesis.
Proteins	Protein extraction and quantification, SDS-PAGE (1-D, 2-D), Western blotting, ELISA, enzyme assays, Bradford assay, recombinant protein expression.
Molecular biology	Analysis of nucleic acids (extraction, purification, quantification and gel electrophoresis). cDNA synthesis and amplification. cDNA libraries construction and screening. Southern and Northern blotting. Gene cloning. PCR. Restriction enzyme digestion.
Transcriptomic	RNA extraction and quantification. qRT-PCR. RNA-seq data analyses.
Microbiology	Aseptic and sterile techniques, media preparation, bacterial cell culture, competent cells preparation, bacterial transformation (Escolar and A.tumefaciens), cell stress assays.
Transgenic	Biolistic transformation, Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation (Arabidopsis thaliana, hybrid poplar and Norway spruce).
Microscopy	Light microscopy, stereomicroscope.

Peer-reviewed articles

Merino I, Abrahamsson M, Larsson E, von Arnold S (2018). Identification of molecular processes that differ among Scots pine somatic embryogenic cell lines leading to the development of normal or abnormal cotyledonary embryos. Tree Genetics & Genomes 14:34.
Li Z, De la Torre A, Sterck L, Canovas F, Avila C, Merino I, Ingvarsson P, Van de Peer Y (2017). Single-copy genes as molecular markers for phylogenomic studies in seed plants. Genome Biology and Evolution 9(4):1130–1147.
Abrahamsson M, Valladares S, Merino I, Larsson E, von Arnold S (2017). Degeneration pattern in somatic embryos of the gymnosperm Pinus sylvestris L. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Plant 53: 86.
Merino I, Abrahamsson M, Sterck L, Craven-Bartle B, Canovas F and von Arnold S (2016). Transcript profiling for early stages during embryo development in Scots pine. BMC Plant Biology 16:255.
Quintana J, Contreras A, Merino I, Vinuesa A, Orozco G, Ovalle F, Gómez L (2015). Genetic characterization of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) orchards and traditional nut varieties in El Bierzo, a glacial refuge and major cultivation site in Northwestern Spain. Tree Genetics and Genomes 11:856.
Merino I, Contreras A, Jing Z.P, Gallardo F, Canovas F, Gómez L (2014). Plantation forestry under global warming: hybrid poplars with improved thermotolerance provide new insights on the in vivo function of small-HSP chaperones. Plant Physiology, 164:978-991.
Pacios LF, Campos VM, Merino I, Gómez L (2009). Structures and thermodynamics of biphenyl dihydrodiol stereoisomers and their metabolites in the enzymatic degradation of arxene xenobiotics. Journal of Computational Chemistry, 30(15):2420-32.
Campos VM, Merino I, F. Pacios L, Gómez L (2008). Review: Phytoremediation of organic pollutants. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 6:38-47. Invited review.

Book chapters

Merino I, Contreras A, Vinuesa A, Quintana J, Orozco G, F. Pacios L, Gómez L. (2012) Persistent organic pollutant and soil. Evaluación y recuperación de emplazamientos degradados y/o contaminados. (p 185-206). Ed. CIEMAT, Department of Science and Innovation, Spain’s Government.
Contreras A, Merino I, Vinuesa A, Quintana J, Orozco G, F. Pacios L, Gómez L. (2012) Trees as perfect organisms to phytoremediate. Evaluación y recuperación de emplazamientos degradados y/o contaminados. (p 507-520). Ed. CIEMAT, Department of Science and Innovation, Spain’s Government.
Merino I, Campos VM, F.Pacios L, Gómez L. (2007) Introduction to soil pollution by organic compounds. Organochlorinated compounds case. Procesos de Degradación y Recuperación de Suelos (p 67-89) Ed. CIEMAT, Department of Science and Innovation, Spain’s Government.
Campos VM, Merino I, F. Pacios L, Gómez L. (2007) Use of tree species in phytoremediation. Procesos de Degradación y Recuperación de Suelos (p 281-295). Ed. CIEMAT, Department of Science and Innovation, Spain’s Government.
F.Pacios L, Campos VM, Merino I, Gómez L. (2007) Phytodegration of organic pollutants: a molecular approximation. Tecnologías para el tratamiento de suelos contaminados (p 137-143). Ed. CIEMAT, Department of Science and Innovation, Spain’s Government.

Manuscripts in preparation

Merino I, Abrahamsson M, Peele H, Larsson E, von Arnold S. Somatic embryogenesis in Scots pine: molecular processes disturbed during early embryo development.
Merino I, Contreras A, Quintana J, Gómez L. A multidisciplinary approach to elucidate new roles of small Heat Shock Proteins against cold and other abiotic stresses.
Contreras A, Merino I, Quintana J, Gómez L. A populus antioxidant enzyme with new capacities to enhance drought and salt stress tolerance in plants.

Reviewing activity

2015 Reviewer in the Journal: Trees - Structure and Function

Public funding

ProCoGen Project. “Promoting a functional and comparative understanding of the conifer genome- implementing applied aspects for more productive and adapted forests”.: EU 7th Framework Program Program. https://bfw.ac.at/rz/bfwcms2.web?dok=9020
"New approach to soil remediation by combining biological and chemical oxidation processes". Project BIOXISOIL (www.bioxisoil.eu/en): EU Environment LIFE Program
“Phytotechnologies for remediation of contaminated sites”.: Regional R&D Program, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (2010-2013).
“Phytoremediation of polychlorinated biphenyls and related xenobiotics”: Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Spain (2003-2006)

Corporate funding

“Analysis of the biotechnological potential for remediation of polluted soils of a peroxidase enzyme”.: ACCIONA and IMIDRA (2013)
“Applied biotechnology to increase tree biomass production”: Desarrollos agronómicos industriales
“Molecular mechanisms for heat tolerance in temperate woody plants”: Eurobosques SA
“Biotechnological approaches to improve abiotic stress tolerance in forest plantations”: Bosques Naturales SA
“Molecular tools to improve high-value wood production in forest plantations”.: Bosques Naturales SA (2005-2008)

Quintana J, Merino I, Contreras A, Orozco G, Vinuesa A, Asiegbu F.O, Gómez L. Transcriptome sequencing reveals new insights into the interaction of European chestnut with the causal agent of chestnut blight. 35th New Phytologist Symposium. The genomes of forest trees: new frontiers of forest biology, 2015. Boston, EEUU (Poster).
Licea R, Contreras A, Merino I, Quintana J, Urban I, Daquinta Marcos, Gómez L. Biotechnological Approaches for Walnut Wood Production. 3rd International Conference of the IUFRO Working Party 2.09.02, 2014. Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain (Poster).
Contreras A, Merino I, Vinuesa A, Quintana J, Campos VM, Orozco G, F.Pacios L, Gómez L. A new populus dehydrogenase with high potential to phytodegradate xenobiotic polychlorated pollutants. XI Conference of Plant Molecular Biology, 2012. Segovia, Spain (Poster).
Vinuesa A, Contreras A, Merino I, Quintana J, Orozco G, F.Pacios L, Gómez, L Identification and characterization of a poplar dehalogenase. XI Conference of Plant Molecular Biology, 2012. Segovia, Spain (Poster).
Merino I, Jing Z.P, Gallardo F, Canovas F, Gómez L. Towards improving tree biomass production: potential of increasing HSP20 levels through genetic engineering. ESF-COST High-Level Research Conference: The Future Role of Bio-energy from Tree Biomass in Europe, 2011. Vienna, Austria. (Poster).
Contreras A.B, Campos V, Merino I, Quintana J, Conteras M, F.Pacios L, Gómez, L. Organic pollutant phytoremediation: a proteomic approach. II Latin American Conference of Biotechnology and Biodiversity, 2011. Manizales, Colombia (Oral presentation).
Quintana J, Contreras A, Merino I, Ovalle F, Gómez L. Genetic structure of chesnut orchad from “El Bierzo”. XXXVIII Conference of Genetic Spanish Society, 2011. Murcia, Spain (Poster).
Merino I, Campos VM, Contreras A, Jing Z.P, Gallardo F, Cánovas F, F.Pacios L, Gómez L. Biochemistry encore: identifying potentially useful genes for phytoremediation and stress tolerance. Workshop on Sustainable Forest Management, Genomic and Biotechnological Resources, 2009. Baeza, Jaén, Spain (Oral presentation).
Merino I, Jing Z.P, Gallardo F, Cánovas F, Gómez L. Prospects of manipulating abiotic stress tolerance in trees through overexpression of relevant molecular chaperones. Workshop on Sustainable Forest Management. Genomic and Biotechnological Resources, 2009. Baeza, Jaén, Spain (Oral presentation).
Merino I, Campos VM, F.Pacios L, Gómez L. sHSP proteins of tree species: new applications. XXXI Conference of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Spanish Society, 2008. Bilbao, Spain (Poster).
Pacios L.F., Campos V.M, Merino I., Gómez L. New biochemical pathway for biphenyl degradation in plants: structural, mechanistic and biotechnological aspects. III Meeting on Environmental Biotechnology and Engineering, 2008. Palma de Mallorca, Spain (Invited talk).
Campos VM, Merino I, F. Pacios L, Gómez L. Proteomic analysis of phytodegradation of polichlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). XXXI Conference of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Spanish Society, 2008. Bilbao, Spain (Poster).
Merino I, Campos VM, F.Pacios L, Gómez L. Description of the first degradation pathway of biphenyls in plants. Genetic, biochemical and structurals aspects. XXXI Conference of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Spanish Society, 2006. Elche, Spain (Poster).

Graduate Dissertation Project. Ligninolytic enzymes: biotechnological aproaches for degradation of organic pollutants. Department of Biotechnology. Polytechnic University of Madrid.
Graduate Dissertation Project: Molecular bases of phytoremediation of organic pollutants: characterization of tolerance mechanisms against polychlorinated biphenyls pollutants in poplar. Department of Biotechnology. Polytechnic University of Madrid.
Master Dissertation Project: Enhancing biomass in poplar through over-expression of a member of the gibberelin protein family. Department of Biotechnology. Polytechnic University of Madrid.
Technicians of two differents research projects.

Irene Merino

Profile summary

Education

Professional activities and experience