chemistry

María Ángela Nieto

María Ángela Nieto is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand María Ángela Nieto rather than just read about it. In short: María Ángela Nieto Toledano (Madrid, March 1, 1960) is a Spanish scientist, doctor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She is recognized for her groundbreaking work in the fields of developmental biology and cellular biology.

Key takeaways

María Ángela Nieto belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect María Ángela Nieto to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of María Ángela Nieto from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

María Ángela Nieto Toledano (Madrid, March 1, 1960) is a Spanish scientist, doctor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She is recognized for her groundbreaking work in the fields of developmental biology and cellular biology. She works at the Institute for Neurosciences CSIC-UMH, a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH).

Career She received her doctorate from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1987 for his work on interactions of nucleic acid proteins. In 1988 she worked at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas in Madrid, to study programmed cell death. In 1989, she joined the National Institute for Medical Research in London, working with David Wilkinson where she isolated a number of genes involved in the morphogenesis of the nervous system. In 1993 In 1993, she obtained a position of Staff Scientist at the Cajal Institute in Madrid. Since then she has led a research group interested in cell movements during embryo development and adult pathologies. In 2000, she was promoted to director of the Developmental Neurobiology Department and elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. In 2004 Nieto was promoted to research professor. That same year, she moved to the Institute for Neurosciences (CSIC-UMH) in Alicante. Nieto's has done research on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process where epithelial cells, which are tightly connected and stationary, transition into mesenchymal cells, which are more mobile and invasive. This phenomenon is critical in understanding developmental processes, as well as in cancer metastasis, tissue regeneration and disease in adults. Her research on the SNAI1 gene family, its activation and relationship with disease has been well received, including its involvement in the formation of different tissues and organs during embryonic development, and how its reactivation in later developmental stages or in adulthood can result in various illness, such as tumor progression, fibrosis, and bone disease. Nieto's contributions have been fundamental in explaining how cells change their identity during development, tissue repair, and in diseases like cancer. Her work has helped clarify the role of EMT in the progression of various cancers, making her a key figure in cancer biology research. EMT was initially accepted by developmental biologists but not by oncologists. However, it has become one of the main cancer research subjects. (discussed in Nieto, Ann. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol., 2011 and Nieto et al., Cell, 2016).

Memberships Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences since 2020. Member of the Academia Europaea. Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). President of the International Society for Developmental Biologists (ISDB). Scientific delegate for Spain in the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC). Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Differentiation. Member of the scientific and technical committee of the State Research Agency (AEI). Member of the High Advisory Council of the Generalitat Valenciana. Member of the science committee of the Institut Curie. Paris; of the Institut de Genomique Fonctionelle (IGFL), Lyon; of the Institut Biologie du Développement (Marseille); of the Dept. Cell & Dev. Biol., University of Dundee, UK; of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO); and of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona. Full Member of the Advisory Committee on Singular Infrastructures (CAIS)-Mineco. (Council for Scientific, Technological, and Innovation Policy), Madrid. Member of the Editorial Boards of EMBO J, EMBO reports; Current Opinion in Genetics and Development; Mechanism of Development; Gene Expression Patterns and Int. J. Developmental Biology. President of the Spanish Society for Developmental Biology.

Awards and recognition 2004: Award from the Carmen and Severo Ochoa foundation. 2005: Francisco Cobos Foundation Award in Biomedical research. 2006: Alberto Sols Award for 'Best research work'. 2009: Rey Jaime I Award. 2015: Scientific merit distinction at the Premios 9 d'Octubre (Generalitat Valenciana). 2015: Selección Española de la Ciencia (Spanish Selection of Science). 2016: Nephrology research award; Fundación Renal Española IAT 2017: Rotary Club Alicante Award 2017: Premio México de Ciencia y Tecnología by the Mexican Government. 2018: Lilly Foundation award for Preclinic Biomedical Research. 2018: Cancer Research Award, by the Asociación Española de Investigación sobre el Cáncer. 2018: Premio Alberto Sols for 'Best research work' 2016–2017. 2019: IMPORTANTES Award from the Información newspaper. 2019: National Research Award 'Santiago Ramón y Cajal' in Biology, from the Spanish Government. 2021: L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards for Europe.

References

Notes

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with María Ángela Nieto

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what María Ángela Nieto claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to María Ángela Nieto before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about María Ángela Nieto ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of María Ángela Nieto

In research: María Ángela Nieto appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses María Ángela Nieto in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: María Ángela Nieto is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1960 births, 20th-century Spanish women scientists, 21st-century Spanish women scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for María Ángela Nieto outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study María Ángela Nieto in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what María Ángela Nieto means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain María Ángela Nieto out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is María Ángela Nieto in simple terms?

Why does María Ángela Nieto matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study María Ángela Nieto?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on María Ángela Nieto.