Curriculum Vitae: Ainhoa Letamendia Urraca, Ph. D.

During her PhD project in Madrid (CIB-CSIC), she studied the role of endoglin in the TGF-beta pathway. Endoglin binds TGF-beta in association with the TGF-beta receptor complex. Her interest in the TGF-beta pathway drove her to consider the laboratory of Liliana Attisano in the University of Toronto as suitable to pursue her next objective.

In Dr. Attisano’s laboratory she learned a variety of techniques such as protein expression, data analysis, ligand binding assays and microbiology techniques between others. She also made significant research findings by characterizing the cooperation between Wnt and TGF-beta (Transforming Growth Factor-beta) relevant transduction pathways.

In 2004, she was offered a position as a research associate in the University of Toronto to collaborate in a small molecules screen project in an attempt to find new proteins involved in the Wnt pathway.

At the moment, she holds a position as Project Leader in Biobide, a biotechnological company focused on drug screening services.

MOST RELEVANT ARTICLES

• A. Letamendia, P. Lastres, N. Almendro, U. Raab, H. Bühring, S. Kumar and C. Bernabeu. 1998. Endoglin, a component of the TGF-beta receptor system, is a differentiation marker of human choriocarcinoma cells. Int. J. Cancer. 76: 541-546.
• P. Lastres, A. Letamendía, H. Zhang, C. Rius, N. Almendro, U. Raab, L.A. López, C. Langa, A. Fabra, M. Letarte, and C. Bernabeu. 1996. Endoglin Modulates Cellular Responses to TGF-beta 1. J.Cell Biol. 133: 1109-1121.
• A. Letamendía, P. Lastres, L.M. Botella, U. Raab, C. Langa, B. Velasco, L. Attisano and C.Bernabeu. 1998. Role of endoglin in celular responses to transforming growth factor. JBC. 273: 33011-33019.
• A. Letamendia, E. Labbe, and L. Attisano. 2000. Association of Smads with lymphoid enhancer binding factor 1/T cell-specific factor mediates cooperative signaling by the transforming growth factor-beta and wnt pathways. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 18;97(15):8358-63.
• A. Letamendia , E. Labbe , L. Attisano. 2001. Transcriptional regulation by Smads: crosstalk between the TGF-beta and Wnt pathways. J Bone Joint Surg Am; 83-A Suppl 1(Pt 1):S31-9.