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INCAR²Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología, Conocimiento e Innovación · ANID — Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo

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Dra. Valentina Valenzuela Muñoz

Principal Investigator

Biography

Dr. Valentina Valenzuela Muñoz is a Civil Engineer in Biotechnology from Universidad San Sebastián and holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Bioinformatics from Universidad de Concepción, as well as a PhD in Sciences with a specialization in Renewable Aquatic Resources Management. From 2022 to March 2025, she led the FONDECYT Initiation project “Functional genomics in Atlantic salmon during repeated sea lice infestation: the emerging role of acquired resistance in salmon breeding” (#11220307). She currently leads the FONDEF project IT20I0006 and serves as sponsor of the postdoctoral projects of Dr. Antonio Casuso, “Evaluation of heterologous effects of vaccines used in the salmon industry: Immunogenomics for the generation of post-vaccination health biomarkers” (FONDECYT #3240484), and Dr. Yeny Leal, “Unraveling the immune cells landscape in Atlantic salmon infected with Piscirickettsia salmonis genogroups by single-nuclei RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq)” (FONDECYT #3250120).

Degrees and Academic Qualifications

  • 2018. PhD in Sciences with a specialization in Renewable Aquatic Resources Management. Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
  • 2011. Master’s Degree in Biochemistry and Bioinformatics. Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
  • 2007. Civil Engineer in Biotechnology. Universidad San Sebastián, Concepción, Chile.

Selected Projects

  • 2025–2027. Project “LiceVax2: Oral vaccine based on BSSD technology for the control of caligidosis in Atlantic salmon.” FONDEF IT20I0006. Principal Investigator / Project Director.
  • 2022–2025. Project “Functional genomics in Atlantic salmon during repeated sea lice infestations: the emerging role of acquired resistance in salmon breeding.” FONDECYT Initiation No. 11220307. Principal Investigator.
  • 2021–2025. Project “Dancing with the genes: the role of topologically associated domains (TADs) to drive the non-coding/coding RNA interactions in sea lice biology.” FONDECYT No. 1210852. Co-Investigator.
  • 2019–2022. Project “Functional genomics applied to parr–smolt transformation: Novel biomarkers for smolt selection in Atlantic salmon.” FONDECYT Postdoctoral No. 3190320. Principal Investigator.
  • 2017–2019. Project “CaligusLIFE: Scientific research of excellence for understanding the biology of Caligus rogercresseyi and its application in caligidosis control strategies in the salmon industry.” FIE 2015-V014-SERNAPESCA. Researcher.