Elba Serrano

Elba E. Serrano is a neuroscientist and biophysicist who holds a position as a Regent’s Professor of Biology at New Mexico State University. She is known for her contributions to research on the nervous system of gastropods, inner ear development in Xenopus, neurobiology of glia, sensory signal transduction in guard cells, and for leadership of programs that recruit, train and retain underrepresented minorities in STEM. Her research considers the central role of ion channels in the reception and transduction of stimuli and integrates methods from genetics, physiology, and anatomy. In 2020 she was named as one of 100 inspiring Hispanic/Latinx scientists in America [1]

Elba E. Serrano
Elba Serrano Image From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Born
Old San Juan
Alma materUniversity of Rochester
Stanford University
AwardsPresidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (2018)
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012)
Scientific career
Fieldsneuroscience
biophysics
genetics
cell biology
STEM education
InstitutionsNew Mexico State University
University of California, Los Angeles
Stanford University

Early life and education

Serrano was born in Old San Juan.[2] Her father was a sergeant in the United States Army and a military veteran, which meant that Serrano was raised in Central America, Asia and Europe. She attended almost ten different schools and eventually graduated from the Nurnberg American High School.[3] She earned a Bachelor's degree in physics at the University of Rochester, where she became interested in biophysics. Her undergraduate research was completed under the guidance of Edwin Carstensen, Professor of Electrical Engineering [4][5] Whilst a physics student Serrano was one of two women out of eighty students.[6][3]

She moved to Stanford University for her doctoral degree, where she earned a PhD in Biology specializing in neuroscience and biophysics under the supervision of Peter A. Getting in 1983.[7] Her dissertation considered the movement of ions across the cell membrane of giant neurons.[8][9][10] After earning her PhD she trained as a postdoctoral researcher with Bruce Ransom and Robert Schimke at Stanford University studying the effects of antiepileptic drugs and antineoplastic drugs on primary neural [11] and glial cultures.[11][12] She then joined the laboratory of Susumu Hagiwara at University of California, Los Angeles Medical School. Here she became interested in sensory cells in plants and in the inner ear, in particular, the mechanosensory hair cells.[10]

Career and research

Serrano joined New Mexico State University in 1992, where she established NMSU's first neuroscience research laboratory. Serrano was selected as a Regents Professor in 2009. Her research considers the ear, hearing and balance,as well as the role of neuroglia in brain function. She has studied the transduction of light by plant stomata [13] and the formation of sensory organs, and the ways sensory cells acquire their phenotypes. She has developed approaches to image neurons and inner ear sensory cells with the scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy and in vivo, primarily using multi-photon microscopy.,[14] as well as using high throughput methods such as RNA-Seq and microarrays to study genes expressed in the inner ear and cell cultures of neuroglia.[15]

Awards and honors

Serrano is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. These include: election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012); the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Distinguished Mentor award (2015);[16] the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (2018).[17][18] Serrano also has been recognized as an American Association for the Advancement of Science International Lecturer on Women in Science (2002) and she has been awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship.[19]

Mentoring and advocacy

At New Mexico State University Serrano served as Principal Investigator of the institution's NIH Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE)[20] and as the co-originator of the NMSU NIH BP-ENDURE Building Research Achievement in Neuroscience (BRAiN) programs, which have supported hundreds of underrepresented minority students across the university to enter biomedical research careers.[21] From 1992 to 2019 over one hundred and twenty students have earned degrees while completing mentored research in the Serrano laboratory, half of whom are women and over 60% are from underrepresented groups.[22]

In 2018 it was announced that the National Science Foundation would establish the National Resource Hub for STEM Education https://hsistemhub.org/[23] at Hispanic-serving institution(HSI Resource Hub) at New Mexico State University.[24] under Serrano's leadership. The Hub's mission is to increase the capacity of Hispanic-serving institutions to provide research and education activities that recruit, train, and retain students for the STEM workforce.[25]

National service

Serrano has served on Francis Collins' Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) of NIH National Institutes of Health (2014-2018).[26] She has co-Chaired the ACD Working Group on Diversity with Hannah Valantine [27] and is part of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Multi-Council Working Group.[17][28] Serrano has worked on behalf of many scientific societies that promote research and student training including the Professional Development Committee for the Society for Neuroscience[29] and the Steering Committee for the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students.[30]

References
  1. "100 inspiring Hispanic/Latinx scientists in America". Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  2. "Elba Serrano Page of the NSHP". hispanicphysicists.org. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  3. "AAAS: EHR: Section Name". ehrweb.aaas.org. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  4. "Edwin Carstensen: A Pioneer in the Bioeffects of Ultrasound". Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  5. "Elba Serrano - CDP Center". Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  6. Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science. "SACNAS Biography Project". Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  7. "Peter Getting". Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  8. Elba Elisa Serrano. "Variability in molluscan neuron soma currents". Stanford University Libraries Theses and Dissertations. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  9. Serrano, EE; Getting, PA (1989). "Diversity of the transient outward potassium current in somata of identified molluscan neurons". The Journal of Neuroscience. 9 (11): 4021–4032. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.09-11-04021.1989. ISSN 0270-6474.
  10. Pearson (2017-04-25). Campbell Biology, 11th Ed. Bukupedia. ISBN 9780134093413.
  11. Serrano, Elba E.; Kunis, David M.; Ransom, Bruce R. (1988). "Effects of chronic phenobarbital exposure on cultured mouse spinal cord neurons". Annals of Neurology. 24 (3): 429–438. doi:10.1002/ana.410240312. ISSN 0364-5134.
  12. "Elba Serrano | Experts Guide | NMSU News Center". newscenter.nmsu.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  13. Serrano, E. E.; Zeiger, E.; Hagiwara, S. (1988). "Red light stimulates an electrogenic proton pump in Vicia guard cell protoplasts". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 85 (2): 436–440. doi:10.1073/pnas.85.2.436. ISSN 0027-8424.
  14. Serrano, Elba E.; Knight, V. Bleu (2005-04-28). "Multiphoton imaging of quantum dot bioconjugates in cultured cells following Nd:YLF laser excitation". Nanobiophotonics and Biomedical Applications II. International Society for Optics and Photonics. 5705: 225–234. doi:10.1117/12.590877.
  15. "Elba Serrano". Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID). Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  16. Elba Serrano: 2015 Distinguished Award presentation, retrieved 2019-11-02
  17. "NMSU professor receives presidential award". NMSU News Center. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  18. "OSTP and NSF to honor 140 individuals and organizations with highest US award for teachers and mentors". nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  19. "Ford Fellows Directory". Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  20. ReySep. 12, Camille Mojica; 2008; Am, 8:00 (2008-09-12). "Team Science and the Diversity Advantage". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 2019-11-02.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. Kesler, Donyelle. "$2.4 million grant will prepare undergraduates for careers in neuroscience" (Press release). Las Cruces, NM: New Mexico State University. News Center. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
  22. "PAESMEM » Awardee Profile". paesmem.net. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  23. "National Resource Hub for STEM Education". https://hsistemhub.org/. Retrieved 2019-01-05. External link in |website= (help)
  24. "NSF Award Search: Award#1832338 - Resource Hub: The NSF National Resource Hub for STEM Education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions". nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  25. "NMSU selected for Hispanic-serving STEM resource hub". Las Cruces Sun-News. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  26. "NMSU Regents professor chosen to advise NIH director". Retrieved 2020-09-15.
  27. Hannah Valantine and Elba Serrano. "ACD Diversity Working Group: Report on the Progress of Activities" (PDF). Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  28. "Neuroethics Working Group | Brain Initiative". braininitiative.nih.gov. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  29. "SFN Professional Development Committee (PDC)". Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  30. Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. "Final Program (2011)" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-09-18.
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