Juan D. Alfonzo

ETT-Fellow 2017

Loriano Ballarin
© Uni MS - MGSE

Department of Microbiology
The Ohio State University
USA
Website

10th July 2017 - 13th September 2017:

Münster Graduate School of Evolution
Hüfferstr. 1a
48149 Münster

Tel.: +49-(0)251/83-21508

alfonzo(dot)1(at)osu(dot)edu

Nationality: USA

Juan D. Alfonzo is a Professor at the Department of Microbiology at the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH in the US. Prof. Alfonzo is a trained Microbiologist who is interested in RNA processing events that are unique to trypanosomes and that could be exploited as targets for the design of therapies against protozoan diseases. In a broader context, his laboratory investigates how  intracellular compartmentalization affects the fate of tRNAs within cells and thus their function. Prof. Alfonzo  is especially interested in three facets of tRNA processing: tRNA editing and tRNA modification in trypanosomes and tRNA import into mitochondria in various systems, with special focus on tRNA transport in human mitochondria, which was discovered by his lab. His work is done with a clear evolutionary angle always present. In 2013, Prof. Alfonzo received the Ohio State University Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching.