Researchers

Marina Ramirez-Alvarado, PhD

Researcher
Professor
Mayo Clinic
200 First St. SW
Rochester, Minnesota, United States

Marina Ramirez-Alvarado is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. She studies misfolding and amyloid formation in light chain amyloidosis. The overall goal of her research laboratory is to understand the molecular basis of this disease to ultimately find ways to ameliorate the organ damage it causes and eventually find new therapeutic strategies to improve organ function and quality of life for patients and increase overall survival.

Dr. Ramirez-Alvarado’s current projects aim at understanding the structural basis for toxicity in light chain amyloidosis. It is now accepted that soluble species populated in the initial steps of amyloid formation are quite toxic and can cause severe organ damage. Dr. Ramirez-Alvarado is utilizing her well-characterized protein systems with incredible biophysical knowledge to determine which species are causing the devastating damage observed in AL amyloidosis.

Dr. Ramirez-Alvarado works very closely with clinical investigators in the Division of Hematology, the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, and the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Representative Publications:

Clinical Features, Laboratory Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients With Renal Versus Cardiac Light Chain Amyloidosis

Assays for Light Chain Amyloidosis Formation and Cytotoxicity

MASS-FIX May Allow Identification of Patients at Risk for Light Chain Amyloidosis Before the Onset of Symptoms

Assay to Rapidly Screen for Immunoglobulin Light Chain Glycosylation: A Potential Path to Earlier AL Diagnosis for a Subset of Patients

Kinetic Stability and Sequence/Structure Studies of Urine-Derived Bence-Jones Proteins From Multiple Myeloma and Light Chain Amyloidosis Patients

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