Home page / Fellows & Labs / Fellows & Alumni / Rodrigo Ledesma Amaro
Spain
Country of destination:France
My current research is focused in metabolic engineering of the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica to produce fuels and chemicals. My interests deal with the application of the recent advances in synthetic biology and systems metabolic engineering to improve the fitness of Y. lipolytica as a biotechnological chassis.
After completing two degrees in Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering at the University of Salamanca, I obtained a MSc in Microbial Biotechnology at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. I developed my PhD in the field of white biotechnology in the Metabolic Engineering group (Jose Luis Revuelta) at the University of Salamanca. Then I have been visiting researcher in EGE University (Turkey), Ghent University (Belgium), INRA (France), Chalmers University (Sweden) and Tsukuba (Japan). During the last 2 years I have been an AgreenSkills fellow in Paris, in the group of Jean-Marc Nicaud, doing metabolic engineering and synthetic biology to produce high value chemicals and fuels in yeasts. After my AgreenSkills fellowship I obtained a research fellowship to start my own group at Imperial College London.
Young Kyoung Park, Jean-Marc Nicaud, Rodrigo LedesmaAmaro, 2018. The Engineering Potential of Rhodosporidium toruloides as a Workhorse for Biotechnological Applications. Trends in Biotechnology. S01677799(17)30277-9. Doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2017.10.013.
Xocthitl Niehus, Anne-Marie Crutz-Le Coq, Georgina Sandoval, Jean-Marc Nicaud, Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro, 2018. Engineering Yarrowia lipolytica to enhance lipid production from lignocellulosic materials. Biotechnology for Biofuels. 11:11. 2018. Doi: 10.1186/s13068-018-1010-6.
Macarena Larroude, Celinska Ewelina, Alexander Back, Stephane Thomas, Jean-Marc Nicaud, Rodrigo LedesmaAmaro, 2018. A synthetic biology approach to transform Yarrowia lipolytica into a competitive biotechnological producer of β-carotene. Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 115 (2) 464-472. Doi: 10.1002/bit.26473.
Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro, Remi Dulermo, Xochitl Niehus and Jean Marc Nicaud, 2016. Combining metabolic engineering and process optimization to improve production and secretion of fatty acids. Metabolic Engineering, 38 38-46.
Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro and Jean Marc Nicaud,2016. Metabolic engineering for expanding the substrate range of Yarrowia lipolytica. Trends in Biotechnology. 34(10):798809.
AWARDS
JAE Intro. grant for research introduction in a CSIC center. 01/07/2009-31/09/2009
Collaboration grant. Labwork in a university department. Grant founded by MICINN (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation). 01/09/2009-31-07-2010
Summer research internship by the International affairs office of the University of Salamanca. EGE University, Turkey. 01/08/2009-31/08/2009
Erasmus grant. Ghent University, Belgium. 01/09/2008-31/1/2009
Practical training. University of Salamanca, Biology faculty. 01/06/2010-31/08/2010
JAE Predoc. PhD fellowship by CSIC.01/09/2010- 12/12/12
FPU grant by MEC (Spanish Ministry of Education). PhD fellowship. 13/12/2012-01/09/2014
Granted for 6th Workshop on Fats and Oils as Renewable Feedstocks for the Chemical Industry. 2013 Karlsruhe, Germany
EMBO short-term fellowship. Chalmers University of Technology. 01/06/2013-31/08/2013
Agreenskills postdoctoral fellowship Marie-Curie FP7 COFUND People Program. 01/11/2014-31-10/2016
Best poster Award (CMBIM’14)
Best poster Award in the USAL contest for scientific outreach
Granted for 7th Workshop on Fats and Oils as Renewable Feedstocks for the Chemical Industry. 2013 Karlsruhe, Germany
Best PhD thesis award (University of Salamanca 2015)
EMBO grant to assist to the meeting ‘Enabling technologies for eukaryotic synthetic biology’ Heidelberg, Germany 2015.
FEMS grant to assist to the meeting ISSY32 in Perugia, Italy 2015.
Resident of the Colegio de España en Paris, Ministry of Education. 01/11/2014-31/01/2017
Awarded with a bursary to assist to Synthetic Genome Summer Course. Edinburgh 2016
Awarded with a bursary to assist to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory course in Synthetic Biology. CSHL, NY, USA 2016
Best poster selected at Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology. Paris 2015, France
OXOID Award. Best PhD thesis in food microbiology. 2016
Imperial College Research Fellowship. 2017
Poster prize: Celi?ska E, Ledesma-Amaro R, Larroude M, Rossignol T, Pauthenier C, Nicaud JM. 2017. Golden Gate assembly system dedicated for complex pathways manipulation in Yarrowia lipolytica. Poster 41 - Awarded a Green Chemistry Poster Prize, 13th International Conference on Renewable Resources and Biorefineries, Wroclaw, 7-9 June, 2017.
PATENTS
Revuelta JL, Jimenez A, Ledesma-Amaro R. Fatty acid production in Eremothecium. IP transferred to BASF SE.
Revuelta JL, Jimenez A, Buey RM, Ledesma-Amaro R. Increased Vitamin B2 production by enhancement of the activity of the enzyme guanosine monophosphate synthase GUA1. 2014. Transferred to BASF SE.
Revuelta JL, Jimenez A, Buey RM, Ledesma-Amaro R. Increased Vitamin B2 production by enhancement of the activity of the enzyme inosine-5’-monophosphate dehydrogenase IMD3. 2014. Transferred to BASF SE.
Revuelta JL, Jimenez A, Buey RM, Ledesma-Amaro R. Increased Vitamin B2 production by the reduction of the activity of the enzyme adenylosuccinate synthase ADE12. 2014. Transferred to BASF SE.
Revuelta JL, Jimenez A, Buey RM, Serrano-Amatriain C, Ledesma-Amaro R. RIB7-promoter as a tool for targeted reduction of gene expression in Ashbya gossypii. 2014. Transferred to BASF SE.