Guillermo León Montero

Researchers

  • Coordinator of the Industrial Division, Clodomiro Picado Institute, Faculty of Microbiology.
  • Ph.D. in Science, University of Costa Rica, 2008.
  • M.Sc. in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Costa Rica (1999)
  • Lic. in Microbiology and Clinical Chemistry, University of Costa Rica (1994).

Guillermo León Montero

Guillermo Leon Montero coordinates the Industrial Division of the Clodomiro Picado Institute. His work focuses on the organization and supervision of activities involved in the industrial production of snakebite antivenoms, the development of technologies to improve the efficacy/safety of said products and the efficiency of the processes used to obtain them. This includes subjects related to animal immunization, immunoglobulin purification, and the assessment of their neutralizing abilities. He also studies the mechanism through which antivenoms cause adverse reactions in patients who use them.

He was involved in the design and implementation of the process line, clean rooms, and production system for the injection water used by the CPI for the industrial production of antivenoms. He also participated in the development of antivenoms used today in Central America, and other formulations used against venoms from snakes in sub-Saharan Africa, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka. He also participates in the development of new products like vaccines and human plasma derivatives.

Publicaciones representativas de sus intereses de investigación

  • León, G., Herrera, M., Segura Á., Villalta M., Vargas M., Gutiérrez J. M. (2013). Pathogenic mechanisms underlying adverse reactions induced by intravenous administration of snake antivenoms. Toxicon, 76, 63-76. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2013.09.010
  • Solano, G., Gómez, A., León, G. (2015). Assessing endotoxins in equine-derived snake antivenoms: Comparison of the USP Pyrogen Test and the Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate Assay (LAL). Toxicon, 105, 13-18. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2015.08.015
  • Arroyo, C., Solano, S., Herrera, M., Segura, Á., Estrada, R., Vargas, M., Villalta, M., Gutiérrez, J. M., León, G. (2015). Lachesis stenophrys venom reduces the equine antibody response towards Bothrops asper venom used as co-immunogen in the production of polyspecific snake antivenom. Toxicon, 103, 99-105. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2015.06.016
  • Navarro, D., Vargas, M., Herrera, M., Segura, Á., Gómez, A., Villalta, M., Ramírez, N., Williams, D., Gutiérrez, J. M., León, G. (2016). Development of a chicken-derived antivenom against the taipan snake (Oxyuranus scutellatus) venom and comparison with an equine antivenom. Toxicon, 120, 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2016.06.018
  • León, G., Segura, Á., Gómez, A., Hernández, A., Navarro, D., Villalta, M., Vargas, M., Herrera, M., Gutiérrez, J. M. (2016). Industrial production and quality control of snake antivenoms. En: Gopalakrishnakone, P., Calvete, J. J. (Eds.). Venom Genomics and Proteomics. Springer,  pp. 1-22. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-6416-3_24