Research Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Molecular Biomedicine, Center for Research and Advanced Studies, (CINVESTAV, IPN), Mexico City, Mexico
M.S., Molecular Biomedicine, Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV, IPN), Mexico City, Mexico
B.Sc., Chemical Pharmaceutical Biologist, Autonomous University of Guadalajara, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
Languages Spoken: Spanish
Biography
Paola Carolina Valenzuela León earned her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in molecular biomedicine from CINVESTAV, Mexico, where she studied the role of mosquito saliva on dengue virus infection of cultured human fibroblasts. Following her doctoral work, Dr. Valenzuela León joined Dr. Calvo’s group as a visiting postdoctoral fellow, where she investigated the direct interaction of mosquito salivary proteins to Zika and dengue viruses and how this interaction affects infection in vitro and ex vivo. Since 2023, her research has expanded to studying the salivary secretion of blackflies, focusing on how these proteins influence the host immune response to arthropod bites, particularly coagulation, vasoconstriction, platelet aggregation, and complement activation. Dr. Valenzuela León’s work is focused on characterizing and understanding the mechanism of action of pharmacologically active molecules from the saliva of blood-feeding arthropods (mosquitoes, sand flies, black flies) and their relevance in blood feeding and pathogen transmission.