Advisory Board and Editors Biochemistry

Journal Factsheet
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I told my colleagues that PeerJ is a journal where they need to publish if they want their paper to be published quickly and with the strict peer review expected from a good journal.
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Diaa Abd El-Moneim

My academic journey began with an MSc in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Suez Canal University, where my research focused on evaluating drought tolerance and disease resistance in wheat, providing a solid foundation in abiotic stress tolerance. This early work fueled my commitment to understanding and addressing plant resilience under stress conditions. Thanks to an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, I pursued my PhD at Complutense University of Madrid, where I investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying aluminum stress tolerance in rye. Notably, I was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship funded by AECID just before defending my thesis—a pivotal achievement that underscored the relevance of my research. This fellowship enabled me to join the National Center of Biotechnology (CNB) in Madrid. I gained expertise in proteomics, gene expression analysis, and molecular tool development to improve plant abiotic stress resilience. These experiences greatly expanded my knowledge of gene regulation and stress physiology and led to high-impact publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Abd El Moneim’s research encompasses multiple domains, including the study of morphological , physiological, and molecular mechanisms that govern plant responses to stress factors such as salinity, drought , aluminum toxicity, heat, and pathogens. His work in identifying gene families and stress-responsive proteins is complemented by his efforts to apply DNA barcoding and chloroplast genomic assemblies for species identification and development of molecular markers, as well as contributing to taxonomical and evolutionary concepts and identifying transcriptional regulators critical for stress adaptation, with particular emphasis on crops like wheat and wild plants adapted to extreme environments. His methodologies include designing and analyzing field trials , protein analysis, nucleic acid extraction, fingerprinting , GWAS , and the characterization of chloroplast genomes. Dr. Abd El Moneim’s expertise in molecular breeding and genomics focuses on improving abiotic stress tolerance in staple crops, especially for agriculture in developing countries.

Sonja-Verena Albers

Researching the assembly of cell surface appendages in archaea and their role in adhesion and biofilm formation. The model organism we study is the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. We use genetic approaches to identify systems in Sulfolobus that are involved in the assembly of cell surface appendages and biochemically characterize the subunits and their interplay in the assembly process.

Juan Alpuche

Juan José Alpuche Osorno is a Biochemistry Professor with experience in bachelor's and postgraduate courses. He is also a life science researcher with management skills and experience at the executive level in Mexican health services and medical faculties. He is looking for a challenging permanent position in a world-class University.

Laboral Experience:
- Vice director 2022- To date. Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca. Planning, directing, and managing the activities of management and technical personnel and ensuring consistency of goals, policies, and procedures.
- Coordinator of a Doctorate Program in Health. 2019-2022. Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad Autonoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca. Planning, directing, and managing the activities of management of the program to ensure the achievement of academic and research goals.
- Head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry. 2019-To date. Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca. Planning, directing, and managing the activities of the laboratory. With a team of 20 people, they attended +750 students on biochemistry academic and research practices at the bachelor level.
- Professor 2014-2018. National Council of Science and Technology, Mexico. Founding of the Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Studies at the Faculty of Medicine- Universidad Autonoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca. Developing basic and applied research on biochemistry, leading a research team, and getting external funds for three research projects.
- Deputy Director Laboratory of Epidemiological Reference of Yucatan State, Mexico. 2011-2014. Health Secretary and Health Services of the State of Yucatan, Mexico. Planning, directing, and managing the activities of management and technical personnel and ensuring consistency of the laboratory's goals, policies, and procedures with a team of more than 50 people. Positioning the state laboratory in the 13/27th place, starting from 27th in two years in the National Bulletin of Excellence.

Education:
- Post-doctorate in Protein Biochemistry 2007 – 2008. Chemical Faculty- Universidad Nacional Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Mexico.
- Post-doctorate in Molecular Biology 2008 – 2009. Sciences Faculty- Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
- Post-doctorate in Comparative Immunology 2009 – 2011. Faculty of Medicine- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico.
- Doctor of Science 2002 – 2007. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
- Fisheries Engineer (Food Specialist) 1997 – 2002. Instituto Tecnologico del Mar, Mexico.

Key Scientific Achievements:
- 34 Scientific Research Articles
- 873 total citations
- H index of 11
- I10 Index of 12
- +50 scientific conferences
- 1st place in Oaxaca State Health Research Award.

Zekiye Sultan Altun

The Zekiye Altun Professor of Biochemistry and Basic Oncology, Dokuz Eylul University. Member of the Cell Death Research Society of Turkey and Basic Oncology Society.

Rubén Rellán Álvarez

I am an Assistant Professor at the National Laboratory of Genomics and Biodiversity in México since 2015. I did a postdoc in the Plant Biology Department of the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford and a PhD in the Aula Dei Experimental Station in Zaragoza, Spain.

Praveen Arany

Training: Dentistry, Biomedical Research, Bioengineering, Pathology
Postdoctoral: TGF-beta, wound healing, regeneration, radiation biology, light biology, stem cells, biomaterial, Lasers.
Current: Clinical translational research and molecular mechanism.
Positions: Past-President, NAALT; President-Elect WALT, Co-Chair SPIE, Chair, ASLMS
Interests: Signal Transduction, Lasers, Biological regulation, Photobiomodulation.

Kathryn Ball

Kathryn Ball trained as an enzymologist and protein biochemist. She was awarded a Broodbank Fellowship (University of Cambridge) and was the first CRUK Senior Cancer Research Fellow (University of Dundee). She moved to the University of Edinburgh in 2004 where she is the Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Signalling. Her current research is focused on protein structure function analysis and the mechanisms underlying the regulation of protein function by ubiquitin in human health and disease.

Davide Barreca

Davide Barreca is an Associate Professor of biochemistry at the University of Messina. He is specialized in enzyme modulation by natural compounds, inhibition of protein aggregation and activation of signal apoptotic cascade. Most of his research projects concentrate on separation and identification of unknown flavonoids, structural-activity elucidation, and biochemical analysis of their health promoting or cytotoxicity properties on cells culture. He is author of over 110 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 35 chapters in books, and 70 conference proceedings and reviewer of over 40 international scientific journals.

Barbara Bartolini

I have a degree in Biological Sciences with specialization in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Pavia, Italy, where I got also my Ph.D. degree in biochemistry with a thesis on fibrillar collagens, proteoglycans, and integrins and their role in the extracellular matrix organization.

My main scientific interest is glycobiology, as I have worked on hyaluronan, dermatan sulfate and heparan sulfate, oxidation specific epitopes and atherosclerosis.
I have also a strong background in cell biology and especially in cell migration and motility.

Renu Batra-Safferling

Group Leader, Structural Biochemistry in Institute of Complex Systems (ICS-6) in Research Centre Juelich, Germany. Postdoctoral scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany (1996-1999) and at Columbia University, New York, USA (1999-2002). Primary focus of my research is to understand the structure-function relationships of soluble and membrane proteins of biological importance.

Travis Beddoe

Prof. Travis Beddoe is a multidisciplinary scientist, training initially as a plant biochemist before studying molecular chaperones in mitochondrial targeting as a PhD student (awarded March 2004), and eventually training in biophysical and structural biology in immune receptors as a postdoctoral researcher. He started his independent research career at Monash University with an NHMRC CDA fellowship (2008) followed by a Pfizer Australia Research fellowship (2010) in the area of glycan specificity in bacterial pathogenesis and physiology. Dr. Beddoe changed research fields when he was recruited to La Trobe University in 2014 as a senior lecturer to establish a laboratory focused on livestock-pathogen interactions in the School of Animal, Plant and Soil Science located in the AgriBio centre. His research is concentrated on aiding animal health with a focus on field-based diagnostics, molecular understanding of the role glycans and glycan-binding proteins play in disease pathogenesis and vaccine development.

Rajesh Bhardwaj

Dr. Rajesh Bhardwaj is a senior research fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina, USA. He is skilled in combining molecular and structural biology techniques as well as pharmacological and computational approaches with state-of-the-art high-throughput screening to dissect the gating and regulatory molecular mechanisms of calcium channels, calcium sensors and solute carrier family transporters. His research interests include studying calcium signaling in health and disease with a focus on the endoplasmic reticulum membrane contact sites with plasma membrane and mitochondria.