Alberto Alape Girón

Researchers

  • Senior Professor, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine.
  • Ph.D. Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, 1997
  • M.Sc. Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, 1992
  • Lic. Microbiology and Clinical Chemistry, University of Costa Rica (UCR), 1988.

Alberto Alape Girón

Alberto Alape Girón was born in 1965, in Palmira, Valle, Colombia. He studied at the Faculty of Microbiology of the University of Costa Rica, and graduated as a Microbiologist and Clinical Chemist in 1988. From 1990 to 1992 he studied Medical Microbiology at the Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm, Sweden, where he obtained a Master's degree; and, from 1993 to 1997 he obtained a Doctorate degree from the same Institute. Since 2002 Dr. Alape is a Senior Professor of the Biochemistry Department in the School of Medicine of the University of Costa Rica, and participates as a professor in undergraduate and postgraduate biochemistry courses. 

Dr. Alape researches two lines of toxic proteins: snake venom toxins and bacterial toxins. Between 2008 and 2012, Dr. Alape Girón was the Director of the Research Center in Microscopic Structures (CIEMIC, for its acronym in Spanish) of the University of Costa Rica; and, he was the director of the Clodomiro Picado Institute from 2012 to 2016. Dr. Alape is co-author of more than 50 publications in indexed international scientific journals of recognized standing.
 

Publicaciones representativas de sus intereses de investigación

  • Flores-Diaz, M., Alape-Girón, A., Clark, G., Ichikawa, S., Hirabayashi, Y., Gutiérrez, J. M., Titball, R. & Thelestam, M. (2005). Cellular deficiency of gangliosides induces hypersensitivity to the cytotoxic effect of Clostridium perfringens  phospholipase C. Journal of Biological Chemistry,280,26680-26689. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M500278200
  • Alape-Girón, A., Sanz, L., Escolano, J., Flores-Díaz. M., Madrigal, M., Sasa, M., Calvete, J. J. (2008). Snake Venomics of the Lancehead Pitviper Bothrops asper: Geographic, Individual, and Ontogenetic Variations. J Proteome Res, 7(8), 3556-3571. doi: 10.1021/pr800332p.
  • Arce-Estrada, V., Azofeifa-Cordero, G., Alape-Girón, A., Flores-Díaz, M. (2008). Immunization with a plasmid encoding a P-II metalloproteinase from Bothrops asper induces equine antibodies which neutralize the hemorrhagic activity of B. asper and C. durissus venoms. Vaccine, 27, 460-6.
  • Alape-Girón, A., Flores-Díaz, M., Sanz, L., Madrigal, M., Escolano, J., Sasa, M., Calvete, J. J. (2009). Studies on the venom proteome of Bothrops asper: Perspectives and applications. Toxicon, 54, 938–948.
  • Monturiol-Gross, L., Flores-Díaz, M., Araya-Castillo, C., Pineda-Padilla, M. J., Clark, G. C., Titball, R., Alape-Girón, A. (2012). Reactive Oxygen Species and the MEK/ERK Pathway are involved in the toxicity of Clostridium perfringens α-toxin, a prototype bacterial phospholipase C. J Infect Dis, 206,1218-26.
  • Monturiol-Gross, L., Flores-Díaz, M., Campos-Rodríguez, D., Mora, R., Rodríguez-Vega, M., Marks, D. L., Alape-Girón, A. (2014). Internalization of Clostridium perfringens α-toxin leads to ERK activation and is involved on its cytotoxic effect. Cell Microbiol. 16, 535-47.
  • Flores-Díaz, M., Monturiol-Gross, L., Naylor, C., Alape-Girón, A., Flieger, A. (2016). Bacterial Sphingomyelinases and Phospholipases as Virulence Factors. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev, 80, 597-628.