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          About NIAMS
          Sandra Muñoz-Braceras, Ph.D.





Sandra Muñoz-Braceras, Ph.D.


Postdoctoral Fellow (Visiting)
    Muscle Disease Section Image
              Photo of Dr. Sandra Muñoz-Braceras 
            Contact Information

                                                  301-451-9977
                
                                                9000 Rockville Pike
                  
            50 South Drive
      
                  
            Building 50, Room 1142
      
                                   Bethesda MD 20892
                
                                                sandra.munozbraceras@nih.gov 
                Summary
          Sandra Muñoz-Braceras, Ph.D. obtained her degree in Biotechnology at the University of Salamanca in Spain, completing part of her studies as an exchange student at the University of Caen in France. Dr. Muñoz-Braceras joined research groups focused on modulating the apoptotic pathway for the treatment of cancer and on identifying new regulators of apoptosis and autophagy. Subsequently, she pursued research on the study of autophagy and studied its involvement in chorea-acanthocytosis (ChAc), a rare neurodegenerative disease.

Dr. Muñoz-Braceras completed her master’s degree in Molecular Biomedicine and her doctoral degree in Molecular Biosciences at the Autonomous University of Madrid. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Biomedicine Research Institute Alberto-Sols. In 2018, she joined the NIH as a postdoctoral fellow at the NHLBI before moving to the NIAMS in 2020.
        
                  Research Statement
          
            Dr. Muñoz-Braceras' research interests are focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms contributing to the pathogenesis of disease and applying this knowledge for the benefit of patients. At the NIAMS, she studies a family of autoimmune myopathies collectively known as myositis. Dr. Muñoz-Braceras combines bench science and bioinformatics work to first identify candidates that participate in the pathogenesis of different types of myositis and then assess how their expression levels or function play a role in the disease. 

            Scientific Publications
              VPS13A is closely associated with mitochondria and is required for efficient lysosomal degradation.

    Muñoz-Braceras S, Tornero-Écija AR, Vincent O, Escalante R
        

                    Dis Model Mech.
        
                    2019 Feb 22;
        
                    12(2).
        
                    doi: 10.1242/dmm.036681
                            PMID: 30709847
  Yeast and other lower eukaryotic organisms for studies of Vps13 proteins in health and disease.

    Rzepnikowska W, Flis K, Muñoz-Braceras S, Menezes R, Escalante R, Zoladek T
        

                    Traffic.
        
                    2017 Nov;
        
                    18(11).
        
                    doi: 10.1111/tra.12523
                            PMID: 28846184
  Autophagy in Dictyostelium: Mechanisms, regulation and disease in a simple biomedical model.

    Mesquita A, Cardenal-Muñoz E, Dominguez E, Muñoz-Braceras S, Nuñez-Corcuera B, Phillips BA, Tábara LC, Xiong Q, Coria R, Eichinger L, Golstein P, King JS, Soldati T, Vincent O, Escalante R
        

                    Autophagy.
        
                    2017 Jan 2;
        
                    13(1).
        
                    doi: 10.1080/15548627.2016.1226737
                            PMID: 27715405
  Analysis of Relevant Parameters for Autophagic Flux Using HeLa Cells Expressing EGFP-LC3.

    Muñoz-Braceras S, Escalante R
        

                    Methods Mol Biol.
        
                    2016;
        
                    1449().
        
                    doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3756-1_20
                            PMID: 27613046
  TipC and the chorea-acanthocytosis protein VPS13A regulate autophagy in Dictyostelium and human HeLa cells.

    Muñoz-Braceras S, Calvo R, Escalante R
        

                    Autophagy.
        
                    2015;
        
                    11(6).
        
                    doi: 10.1080/15548627.2015.1034413
                            PMID: 25996471
  Vmp1 regulates PtdIns3P signaling during autophagosome formation in Dictyostelium discoideum.

    Calvo-Garrido J, King JS, Muñoz-Braceras S, Escalante R
        

                    Traffic.
        
                    2014 Nov;
        
                    15(11).
        
                    doi: 10.1111/tra.12210
                            PMID: 25131297
  Ndufaf5 deficiency in the Dictyostelium model: new roles in autophagy and development.

    Carilla-Latorre S, Annesley SJ, Muñoz-Braceras S, Fisher PR, Escalante R
        

                    Mol Biol Cell.
        
                    2013 May;
        
                    24(10).
        
                    doi: 10.1091/mbc.E12-11-0796
                            PMID: 23536703 
          Education
              
            **Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain)**
Ph.D. in Molecular Biosciences (2017)

**Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain)**
Master's Degree in Molecular Biomedicine (2012)

**University of Salamanca (Spain) and University of Caen (France)**
Bachelor’s Degree in Biotechnology (Licentiate), (2011)             
                        Experience
              
            **Postdoctoral Fellowship**
NIAMS, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA (Apr. 2020 – present)

**Postdoctoral Fellowship**
NHLBI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA (Oct. 2018 –Mar. 2020)

**Postdoctoral Fellowship**
IIB Alberto-Sols, CSIC-UAM, Madrid, Spain (Jul. 2017 – Sep. 2018)

**Visiting Ph.D. Fellowship**
Department of Neurology, Technical University of Dresden, Germany (Feb. 2015 – Jul. 2015)

**Master’s and Ph.D. Fellowship**
IIB Alberto-Sols, CSIC-UAM, Madrid, Spain (Oct. 2011 – Jul. 2017)

**Postbaccalaureate Fellowship**
CIC, CSIC-USAL, Salamanca, Spain (Jul. 2010 – Jun. 2011)

**Postbaccalaureate Fellowship**
GRECAN, Caen, France (Mar. 2010 –May. 2010)


Last Updated: September 2021


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