Ana Fresno: «We need to make an effort to find prevention or treatment strategies»
Ana Fresno Herrero lives in an unknown universe. So vast, however small its inhabitants may be, that it is overwhelming. That is why among her passions are meditation and yoga. You have to have a prominent, obvious mind to immerse yourself in the world of bacteria.
Microbiologist teacher and researcher in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Campus Terra of the University of Santiago de Compostela last summer made a 180-degree turn in her life. Well, hers and that of her family.
She decided to return from Denmark, where for more than a decade she worked as a researcher and professor at the University, to join the Beatriz Galindo Program, the government initiative to recover talent that lives beyond our borders. The decision was a challenging one. Her two children and her Danish husband also traveled with her.
Ana Fresno's current work at Campus Terra focuses on the One-Health context, from farm to table. A field fraught with challenges. Also, of opportunities.
We talked to her about this and much more in this interview.
-You graduated in Biology from the University of Oviedo in 2002 and, over the years, specialized in the molecular pathogenesis of bacterial infections, zoonosis, antibiotic resistance, and bacteria-host interaction. How did your interest in this field arise?
-My collaboration at the University started voluntarily. I spent a year doing research tasks in the lab full-time before getting my first pre-doctoral contract from FICYT (Asturias). After graduating, my passions were teaching and researching at the university level. And that was what I wanted to do in my future.
I have been a fan of research since I started my Thesis: I like to conceive ideas and put them into practice, innovate, write scientific articles, supervise research work, communicate, and transfer knowledge... but not the laboratory - for me, they are two different things. I am a person of letters with a scientific heart.
The time of my Ph.D. thesis was complex because I wouldn't say I liked lab work as such, and I think it was far from being the best. But my thesis supervisors were fantastic! They supported me all the way.
-You spent more than a decade in Denmark, where you did a postdoc and worked as an associate professor and full professor. Looking back, what did you learn during this experience, and is the Danish University very different from the Galician one?
-These 12 years in Denmark have been the best not only from a personal point of view (I made a family of friends for life, met my partner and had my two children) but also from a professional point of view: I have produced many scientific papers, participated in several national and international research projects, supervised a large number of students from many different cultures: China, Africa, Brazil...
Moreover, as a teacher, I coordinated my courses. I improved my English and learned Danish. The experience could not have been more enriching. In these years, I have also realized what kind of person and leader I want to be in academia: a combination of my mentors: enthusiastic, honest, grateful, humble, collaborative, protective, anti-conflict...
And without a doubt, the Danish University is very different; I call it "the very first world." The Galician one is not bad, but some things need to be improved, and I miss many things; meetings, interaction with my colleagues, more scientific enthusiasm and participation in research by certain groups, more helping hands, and more resources... calmer...less bureaucracy, more transparency and fewer conflicts.
And it has nothing to do with Galician and Danish, hahaha!
Thanks to my contract with the Danish University, I was a visiting professor at a University in Tanzania. The experience could not have been better. I learned a lot. I would teach African students from different countries, and the best lessons were mine.
Denmark has given me a lot, even my nationality (I am Danish, too), and I could not be more grateful to this northern country for everything it has given me. I intend to continue with collaborations there and to travel whenever I can.
-Last year, you landed at Campus Terra through the Beatriz Galindo program. What was it like for you to return to Spain after such a long time?
-It was quite a shock. To begin with, I am from Asturias, I don't speak Galician, I don't know Lugo, and my husband is Danish and doesn't speak Spanish. He left his job for this family adventure, and we have two children aged 2 and 5; I knew it was a challenge in many ways. At the beginning, I encountered a lot of confusion in my university environment... now things are falling into place with effort and desire. There have also been people (vitamin people) who have done their bit and have made everything easier.
I like the idea that I am beginning to have a very clear that I know what I have come here to do and why... and that is the crucial thing. I want to create my "first particular academic world" close to what I knew in Denmark, with active research, doing my part as a teacher, avoiding conflicts, and doing what I like.
Overall, it was the right decision. I am still evaluating it; it is too early to say this, but I hope so. It is indeed an opportunity. I am very grateful to the Beatriz Galindo program, USC for hosting me, and the people at USC who showed the "expression of interest" for me to come.
-What lines of research are you currently focused on?
-I am a microbiologist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. My profile is quite multidisciplinary: it covers veterinary sciences, food... I want my lines to focus very much on molecular microbiology, bacteria, and molecular biology techniques. To fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Find alternatives to antibiotics or new compounds: I will soon send a project to a national call to discover new compounds with antibacterial effects that can treat urinary tract infections.
I continue with my collaborations in Denmark: a virus project that has just started that I was awarded as principal investigator, an ongoing European project, and the supervision of 4 PhD students, 2 of whom have just begun.
-You focused your Ph.D. thesis on the molecular characterization of plasmids and strains of Salmonella. What were your main findings? What other bacteria have you studied during your professional career?
-At a time when sequencing was starting up and was very expensive, I managed to characterize/sequence a plasmid (a genetic element that can be transferred between bacteria) of a large size at that time, which contained antibiotic resistance factors and virulence factors, that is, it makes the bacteria that acquire it have a more extensive arsenal of virulence and antibiotic resistance elements.
I was also involved in epidemiological monitoring and surveillance studies and developing and optimizing protocols for identifying and tracking Salmonella clones. Besides Salmonella, other Bacteria in my professional career are E. coli and lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus. I have worked with many others, but those are my favorite pets.
-What applications can your work have on a day-to-day basis?
-I work in the One-Health context (a single health), where I see several potential applications. One of my favorite techniques is TraDIS, that involves the creation of transposomal libraries in a particular microorganism, and which allows us to discover target factors for new therapeutic strategies: prevention as vaccines or treatment as new antibiotics against various disease-causing pathogenic bacteria.
I also contribute to understanding how bacteria interact with their host and the mechanisms of pathogenicity. I have worked on projects on vaccine development in animal production. I have been awarded a project on virus disinfection with sustainable products (i.e., more sustainable and safer than bleach).
-Your work must also be essential to ensure food safety.
-Yes. My last job in Denmark was as a Senior Lecturer in the Food Microbiology and Hygiene Department. I was involved in sustainability projects and lectured on food safety, sustainability and hygiene. I worked with probiotics and control of zoonotic bacteria (transmitted along the food chain: animal-food/water-human). I have labored with veterinarians at the University of Copenhagen and in food at DTU on projects closely related to human health, in short, One-Health 100%.
-In a context where many bacteria are developing resistance to significant antibiotics, research becomes even more critical. What alternatives could replace or complement antibiotics?
-We need to make an effort to find prevention or treatment strategies: probiotics (the good bacteria that live in us and that we can eat), phage-based therapies (viruses that specifically attack disease-causing bacteria), new antibiotics and optimizing their use against pathogens.
-What technologies do you employ in your day-to-day work, and what technological innovations can significantly impact your field?
-My favorite technique is the previously mentioned TraDIS, which is highly innovative. I am also interested in and have used CRISPR-Cas, other mutagenesis techniques, cell culture infections, and animal models.
-You currently combine your work as a researcher with your role as a professor in the Biochemistry degree, training future researchers. What profiles will the market need in the coming years?
-As my friend Patricia [López], Ramón y Cajal at Campus Terra, says, without a doubt, a multidisciplinary profile. In the context of One-Health, with experience in developing sustainable products, profiles knowledgeable in artificial intelligence, capable of researching the next pandemic involving multi-resistance to antibiotics.
Also interesting are and will be profiles that study in depth our microbiota (the second brain) and its interaction with the microorganisms capable of causing disease.