Maria del Pilar Quintana Varon

Maria del Pilar Quintana Varon

Postdoc, Assistant Professor

Member of:

  • SURFACE team

EDUCATION

10/2011- 01/2017     

PhD. Medical Sciences

Karolinska Institutet – Stockholm, Sweden

08/2010- 09/2011               

Exchange Student

Universidad del Rosario – Bogotá, Colombia

Karolinska Institutet – Stockholm, Sweden

01/2007-07/2010                

M.Sc. Sciences-Biochemistry

Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Bogotá, Colombia

01/2002 -12/2006                

B.Sc. Biology

Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Bogotá, Colombia.   

 

CURRENT POSITION

2022- 

Visiting Faculty

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

2021-                      

Assistant Professor

Centre for Medical Parasitology

University of Copenhagen

2017-2021                      

Postdoctoral researcher

Centre for Medical Parasitology

University of Copenhagen

 

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

2011-2016                          

Teaching assistant 

Subject: Disease and Illness 2, Parasitology Seminar (B.Sc. Medicine)

Karolinska Institutet

2007 – 2010                         

Research assistant

Laboratorio de Biofísica y Biología de Membranas.

Centro Internacional de Física - CIF

Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

2008                                   

Teaching assistant

Subject: Biochemistry Laboratory (B.Sc. Dentistry)

Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias             

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

2006                                   

Teaching assistant

Subject: Animal systematics introduction (B.Sc. Biology)

Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

PUBLICATIONS

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6190-3324

Scientific papers

Total publications: 14

h-index: 5

Average citation per item: 4.29

Sum of times cited (without self citations): 51

 

  1. Quintana MDP. mSphere of Influence: Structural insights into the molecular mechanism underlying placental malaria. mSphere 2021. Jun 30;6(3):e0039121. doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00391-21
  2. Quintana MDP, Anabire NG, Hviid L. Measuring naturally acquired phagocytosis-inducing antibodies to Plasmodium falciparum parasites by a flow cytometry-based assay. J. Vis. Exp. 2020; (162). e61538. doi:10.3791/61538
  3. Quintana MDP, Smith-Togobo C, Moormann A and Hviid L. Endemic Burkitt lymphoma - an aggressive childhood cancer linked to Plasmodium falciparum exposure, but not to exposure to other malaria parasites. APMIS. 2020 Feb;128(2):129-135; doi: 10.1111/apm.13018. 
  4. Smith-Togobo C, Quintana MDP, Ofori M, Hviid L. High frequencies of tumor-infiltrating and circulating gamma delta T cells in endemic Burkitt lymphoma patients. Conference: 68th Annual Meeting of the American-Society-for-Tropical-Medicine-and-Hygiene (ASTMH). American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  101. Supp. 5, 563-563.
  5. Quintana MDP, Ecklu-Mensah G, Tcherniuk SO, Ditlev SB, Oleinikov AV, Hviid L, Lopez-Perez M. Comprehensive analysis of Fc-mediated IgM binding to the Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 family in three parasite clones. Sci Rep. 2019; 9(1):6050; doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-42585-0.
  6. Larsen MD, Quintana MDP, Ditlev SD, Bayarri-Olmos R, Ofori MF, Hviid L and Garred P. Evasion of classical complement pathway activation on Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes opsonized by PfEMP1-specific IgG. Front Immunol 2018; 9:3088
  7. Quintana MDP, Ch’ng JH, Moll K, Zandian A, Nilsson P, Md Idris Z, Saiwaew S, Qundos U, Wahlgren M. Antibodies in children with malaria to PfEMP1, RIFIN and SURFIN expressed at the Plasmodium falciparum parasitized red blood cell surface. Sci. Rep. 2018; 8, 3262; doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-21026-4
  8. Chan S, Frasch A, Chandra SM, Ch’ng JH, Quintana MDP, Vesterlund M, Gorbal M, Joannin N, Franzén O, Lopez-Rubio JJ, Barbieri S, Lanzavecchia A, Sanyal S, Wahlgren M. Regulation of PfEMP1-VAR2CSA translation by a Plasmodium falciparum translation-enhancing factor. Nat. Mic. 2017; 2 (7).
  9. Ch’ng JH, Sirel M*, Zandian A*, Quintana MDP*, Chan S*, Moll K*, Tellgren-Roth A*, Nilsson I, Nilsson P, Qundos U, Wahlgren M. Epitopes of anti-RIFIN antibodies and characterization of rif-expressing Plasmodium falciparum parasites by RNA sequencing. Sci. Rep. 2017; 4, 43190; doi: 10.1038/srep43190
  10. Quintana MDP, Angeletti D, Moll K, Wahlgren M. Phagocytosis-inducing antibodies to Plasmodium falciparum upon immunization with a recombinant PfEMP1 NTS-DBL1α domain. Malaria J. 2016; 15:416; doi: 10.1186/s12936-016-1459-3
  11. Ch’ng JH, Moll K*, Quintana MDP*, Chan S*, Masters E*, Moles E, Liu J, Eriksson A, Wahlgren M. Rosette-Disrupting Effect of an Anti-Plasmodial Compound for the Potential Treatment of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Complications. Sci. Rep. 2016; 6, 29317; doi: 10.1038/srep29317
  12. Blomqvist K, Albrecht L, Quintana MDP, Angeletti D, Joannin N, Chêne A, et al. A Sequence in Subdomain 2 of DBL1α of Plasmodium falciparum Erythrocyte Membrane Protein 1 Induces Strain Transcending Antibodies. PloS one 2013;8(1):e52679; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052679
  13. Angeletti D, Albrecht L, Blomqvist K, Quintana MDP, Akhter T, Bächle SM, et al. Plasmodium falciparum Rosetting Epitopes Converge in the SD3-Loop of PfEMP1-DBL1α. PloS one 2012;7(12):e50758; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050758
  14. Quintana MDP, Leon S, Forero ME, Camacho M. Mecanismos de salida de parásitos intracelulares de su célula hospedera (Exit mechanisms of intracellular parasites from their host cells). Acta Biol. Colomb. 2010; 15 (3). 19-32.

 

 Research monographs

  1. Quintana MDP. Surface antigens in Plasmodium falciparum malaria: PfEMP1 and SURFIN4.2. Doctoral Thesis. 2017. ISBN: 978-91-7676-535-7. https://openarchive.ki.se/xmlui/handle/10616/45474
  2. Quintana MDP.  Study of host cell egress by the parasite Leishmania amazonensis (Estudio del proceso de salida del parásito Leishmania amazonensis de su célula hospedera). Master Thesis. 2010. http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/8659/1/188101.2010.pdf

Chapters

  1. Quintana MDP.  2013. Culturing of erythrocytic asexual stages of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. In: Moll K, Scherf A, Wahlgren M. Ed. Methods in malaria research. Sixth edition. p 1-2
  2. Quintana MDP.  2013. Staining of parasite culture or patient blood and estimation of Parasitemia. In: Moll K, Scherf A, Wahlgren M. Ed. Methods in malaria research. Sixth edition. p 22.
  3. Quintana MDP.  2013. Micromanipulation cloning of Plasmodium falciparum. In: Moll K, Scherf A, Wahlgren M. Ed. Methods in malaria research. Sixth edition. p 47-49.
  4. Quintana MDP.  2013. Opsonic monocyte phagocytosis assay. In: Moll K, Scherf A, Wahlgren M. Ed. Methods in malaria research. Sixth edition. p 249-251.

 

EVENT PARTICIPATION

  1. Attendance and Oral presentation at the WACCBIP Research Conference 2019. Accra, Ghana, July 2019

  2. Attendance and Poster presentation at the 29th Molecular Parasitology Meeting. Woods Hole, USA, September 2018

  3. Attendance and Oral presentation at the 7th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria conference. Dakar, Senegal, April 2018

  4. Attendance to the EMBL conference BioMalPar XIII: Biology and Pathology of the Malaria Parasite. Heidelberg, Germany, May 2017
  5. Attendance and Poster presentation at the Molecular approaches to Malaria Conference. Lorne, Australia, February 2016
  6. Attendace and Poster presentation at the 3rd Nordic Malaria Conference. Sånga Säby, Sweden, October 2015
  7. Attendance and Poster presentation at the 11th Annual EIMID meeting. Berlin, Germany, October 2014
  8. Attendance and Poster presentation at the2nd Nordic Malaria Conference. Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2012
  9. Poster presentation at the American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting. San Diego, United States of America, 2011
  10. Attendance and Oral presentation at the XIV Colombian Conference on Parasitology and Tropical Medicine and X PECET Symposium (XIV Congreso Colombiano de Parasitología y Medicina Tropical y X Simposio PECET). Medellín, Colombia. 2009
  11. Attendance at the IV Biology Students Scientific Meeting (IV Encuentro Científico de Estudiantes de Biología). Bogotá, Colombia. 2005.
  12. Attendance to the Symposium on New Molecular Immunology (Simposio de la Nueva Inmunología Molecular). Bogotá, Colombia. 2001.

 

EVENT ORGANISATION

  1. Co-organizer 3rd Nordic Malaria Conference. Sånga Säby, Sweden, October 2015. Co-responsible for assessing submitted abstracts, organizing scientific program and poster session.

 

FUNDING

  1. “Estudio del proceso de salida del parásito Leishmania amazonensis de su célula hospedera”. Funded by Dirección de Investigación (DIB), Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Code: 8003189. Budget: 3500 EU (12.000.000 COP). Funds awarded to cover running costs for Master thesis projects. Main applicant.
  2. “Papel de la membrana de la vacuola parasitófora de Leishmania y Plasmodium en la permeabilidad, ruta secretoria y salida de estos parásitos”. Funded by Francisco José de Caldas Institute for the development of Science and Technology (COLCIENCIAS). Code: 110140820398. Budget: 84000 EU (293.000.000 COP). Funds awarded to cover salary and project running costs. Co-applicant together with Master thesis supervisor.

 

MEMBERSHIP OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

2010-2017   

Swedish Malaria Network  

Member and acting vice-treasurer on the organizing board

 

PEER-REVIEWING

BMC Malaria journal

Infection and Immunity

Journal of Immunology

Nature Microbiology

PLoS ONE

PLos Pathogens

ID: 183419041