Full Professor. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Alimentación A.C. (CIAD), Campus Hidalgo (Cel. +52 6623071615).   Email: mdelatorre@ ciad.mx Website www.ciad.mx (COORDINACION HIDALGO).

My primary research areas are bioprocess engineering (fermentation processes), biological control of pest and phytopathogens in agriculture, quorum sensing, and bioeconomics. My approach is to combine basic research with technological research and going deeper in microbial physiology research to know what happened with the biological system in a process.  Various technologies developed by my team have been transferred to companies.

Work experience

1984-National Researcher current SNI 3. (National System of Research), Mexico, SNI). 

2004- Current employment. Full professor, Centre of Food Research and Development A.C. (CIAD). Mexico.

2007. Associated Staff. Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI). Organization of American States, Washington D.C, USA. I reorganized the OAS Biotechnology Program for the Americas.

2000-2002. Chair of the Biotechnology and Bioengineering Department and Full Professor. CINVESVAT. Mexico.

1983. Research Assistant, Biotechnology Department. Federal Institute of Biotechnology (ETH- Zurich Campus Hoenggerberg), Switzerland

Achievements and responsibilities.

Awards

Since 1985, I have been leader of research groups and due to my achievements in bioengineering I have obtained several awards, some of them are:

1988 Young Scientist Award in Technology. Organization of American States. 

1988. National Award in Science and Fine Arts: Technology, Design, and Innovation. Mexico. This is the most important award for scientist and artist in Mexico. 

2004. TWAS award in engineering sciences. The Word Academy of Science. International organization. Trieste, Italy.

2004. Interciencia Award in Live Science. Interciencia is a multinational organization for the advance of science in the Americas.

Technology transfer

Process technology, basic engineering, construction and start up of production facilities. Some examples are:

AGROBIONSA (http://agrobionsa.com/es). Biological products for agriculture:pest control.

Greencorp (http://greencorp.com.mx/). Facility for Bioprotection products. This company and PASSA formed a consortium for this facility located in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico.   

AAKINAWA (https://www.picuki.com/tag/aakinawa) Traditional food products of Yaquis (indigenous people Sonora, Mexico): pinole, pitahaya jelly, uvalama in syrup.

Selected scientific articles 

Leyva, D.; De la Torre, M.; Coronado, Y. Sustainability of the Agricultural Systems of Indigenous People in Hidalgo, Mexico (2021) Sustainability 2021, 13, 8075. doi.org/10.3390/su13148075

A. Verdugo-Fuentes, G. Gastélum, J. Rocha, M. de la Torre (2019) Multiple and Overlapping Functions of Quorum Sensing Proteins for Cell Specialization in Bacillus Species Journal of Bacteriology 202(10) DOI: 10.1128/JB.00721-19

E. Aguirre-von-Obese, J. Rocha-Estrada J, LR Shapiro, M de la Torre (2018) Enrichment of Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria and Burkholderiales drives selection of bacterial community from soil by maize roots in a traditional milpa agroecosystem. PLoS ONE 13(12): e0208852. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208852

R Cabrera, A Rodríguez-Romero, G Guarneros, M de la Torre (2016) New insights into the interaction between the quorum-sensing receptor NprR and its DNA target, or the response regulator Spo0F. FEBS letters 590(18) DOI: 10.1002/1873-3468.12371

Education

Since I was College-student I love fermentations and I was 19 years old when I started working at the lab in bioprocesses and I still I work on. 

1982-1983 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biotechnology. Federal Institute of Biotechnology (ETH- Zurich Campus Hoenggerberg), Switzerland. Characterization of bioreactors: Mass transfer and energy efficiency.

1981- PhD in Microbiology, Single cell protein production from sugarcane pith. National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), Mexico. 

1977-Bachelor degree in Biochemical Engineering. Single cell protein production from sugarcane pith. National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), Mexico.

Skills

I have great experience on process development and microbial physiology, applied to agriculture, food industry and circular economy.  

Hobbies and Interests

I love literature, yoga, traveling to country side, jazz music and making friends  around world.