User:Lbrinkley/sandbox

Introduction
Dr. Ana Conesa is a current Professor of Bioinformatics at the Department of Microbiology and Cell Science. The main focus of her research is to develop methods to understand the function of changes in gene expression. Currently Dr. Conesa and her team are working on using different types of technologies to answer this question in a more comprehensive way by measuring proteins, DNA, RNA, and metabolism. As a side project, she is researching the mechanisms of splicing, how one gene results in multiple proteins, and what happens when each of the different proteins is made. She has been the lead-PI of ten research projects and published over 76 research papers. Dr. Conesa is also the founder of BioBam and Genometra, two bioinformatics companies.

Education
Dr. Conesa graduated from the Polytechincal University of Valencia in 1993 with a degree in Agronomy and then obtained her PhD at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in 2001 in molecular microbiology.

Work
After graduating with her PhD she was appointed as the “Project Leader Bioinformatics” at the Department of Toxicology of the Dutch Institute for Technology and Science. Two years later in 2003 she moved back to Valencia Spain where she began a research program in Bioinformatics for Plant Sciences at the Valencia Institute of Agricultural Research. In 2007 at the Prince Felipe Research Center she joined the Bioinformatics Department where ultimately in 2010 she became the Head of the Genomics of Gene Expression Lab and Senior Group Leader. From 2014 till present day she has held her position at the University of Florida.

Research
Dr. Conesa chose this field of research because she enjoys developing tools to be used by others so those researchers can then find their own answers to their personal research. Also, she states that due to her field of work what she does has a lot of impact since her tools are employed by many different research groups for various purposes. Some of the tools she has created include Blast2GO, Paintomics, Qualimap, and STATegraEMS. Her most challenging yet rewarding project has been working on understanding type one diabetes regarding its onset and progression. This project involved using data sets of children at risk of developing type one diabetes and ultimately trying to put gene expression information together to create modelling of how diabetes progresses. In mastering and combining the immense amount of math and biological data provided through their research they could begin building a biological story for the progression of type one diabetes.

Awards
After creating Blast2GO, Dr. Conesa needed an easier way to distribute the project and therefore created a company to create a commercial form of the product with professional support provided to users with questions. In creating this company in 2013 the Spanish National Newspaper recognized it as the Best Startup of the Year.

Advice to Future Women in Stem
As a woman in stem she has noticed her field is populated by males however Dr. Conesa has never thought she had any limitations so she doubted anyone else saw that. She does occasionally receive reactions she would not have gotten if she were a man when bringing up new ideas. Her advice to women pursuing a stem career is to go for it. The most important thing is how you see yourself. If you believe in yourself and are ambitious about your goals you will accomplish them. As well she mentions to not mind others too much, focus on yourself and your dreams and goals.

Department Link
http://microcell.ufl.edu/people/faculty-directory/conesa/

Publication Links
https://academic.oup.com/bioinformatics/article/21/18/3674/202517

https://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2011/09/07/gr.124321.111.abstract

https://academic.oup.com/bioinformatics/article/22/9/1096/200371

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1087184501912769

https://aem.asm.org/content/66/7/3016.short