Néstor joined CIEMAT's Division of Innovative Hematopoietic Therapies in October 2021 and was appointed to the Telomeropathies Unit. In 2005 he defended his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology on “Gene therapy for the treatment of non-spherocytic hemolytic anemia due to pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKD)”. As a result of this work, several papers were published and patents were filed. He then became a postdoctoral researcher in the hematopoietic gene therapy program (CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain) working on gene therapy for the treatment of hereditary hematopoietic diseases. During this time, he participated in research projects on gene therapy of Fanconi Anemia, cellular plasticity and tissue regeneration, and consolidated the PKD gene therapy line at Division of Innovative Hematopoietic Therapies.
In 2007 he re-joined the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology at the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela) as an associate professor and participated in teaching undergraduate and graduate medical students in Medical Biochemistry and Immunology lectures. During his tenure at the university, he developed and directed the molecular biology and omic sciences units for academic, research and clinical services. In 2012, simultaneously with academic activity, he founded and directed a biotechnology centre for medical services "Genoma Lab". With the purpose of achieving the transfer of biotechnological services to social sectors in need, in 2018 he created the Singularity Foundation. During all these years it has maintained active research collaborations with the Division of Innovative Hematopoietic Therapies of CIEMAT, and has opened others. In 2021, after finishing his academic career as a full professor, resumes full time research activity in our telomeropathies unit, and now he is currently involved in projects for the development of innovative models and therapies to address the treatment of biological telomere diseases and bone marrow failure syndromes.
Publications:
1.- Uzcátegui NL, Figarella K, Bassarak B, Meza NW, Mukhopadhyay R, Ramirez JL, Duszenko M. Trypanosoma brucei aquaglyceroporins facilitate the uptake of arsenite and antimonite in a pH dependent way. Cell Physiol Biochem. 2013;32(4):880-8. doi: 10.1159/000354490. Epub 2013 Sep 27.
2.- Oscar Quintana-Bustamante, Esther Grueso, Ramon Garcia-Escudero, Elvira Arza, Alberto Alvarez-Barrientos, Isabel Fabregat, Maria Garcia-Bravo, Nestor W. Meza, Jose C. Segovia. Cell Fusion Reprogramming Leads to a Specific Hepatic Expression Pattern during Mouse Bone Marrow Derived Hepatocyte Formation In Vivo. PLoS ONE 7(3): e33945 March 23, 2012.
3.- Meza NW, Alonso-Ferrero ME, Navarro S, Quintana-Bustamante O, Valeri A, Garcia-Gomez M, Bueren JA, Bautista JM, Segovia JC. Rescue of pyruvate kinase deficiency in mice by gene therapy using the human isoenzyme. Mol Ther. 2009 Dec;17(12):2000-9. Epub 2009 Sep 15.
4.- Almarza, Elena; Aldea, Montserrat; Río, Paula; Meza, Nestor; Agirre, Xabier; Guenechea, Guillermo; Segovia, Jose; Bueren, Juan. (2008). The role of the vav promoter in gene therapy: Safer vectors with weaker and stable expression. Blood Cells Molecules and Diseases - BLOOD CELLS MOLECULES DIS. 40. 250-251. 10.1016/j.bcmd.2007.10.012.
5.- Río P, Meza NW, González-Murillo A, Navarro S, Alvarez L, Surrallés J, Castella M, Guenechea G, Segovia JC, Hanenberg H, Bueren JA. In vivo proliferation advantage of genetically corrected hematopoietic stem cells in a mouse model of Fanconi anemia FA-D1. Blood. 2008 Dec 15;112(13):4853-61. Epub 2008 Sep 23
6.- Rossi NE, Reiné J, Pineda-Lezamit M, Pulgar M, Meza NW, Swamy M, Risueno R, Schamel WW, Bonay P, Fernández-Malavé E, Regueiro JR. Differential antibody binding to the surface TCR-CD3 complex of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes is conserved in mammals and associated with differential glycosylation. (Int Immunol, 2008 Jul 24.).
7.- Nestor W. Meza, Maria Eugenia Alonso, Susana Navarro, Guillermo Guenechea, Oscar Quintana-Bustamante, Maria Garcia-Gomez, Juan A. Bueren, Jose M. Bautista, Jose C. Segovia; Development of Efficent Gene Therapy for the Treatment of Erythrocyte Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency. Blood 2007; 110 (11): 2584. doi: https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.V110.11.2584.2584
8.- Sanchez Mora N, Medina O, Francisconi B, Meza NW, Rossi N, Colmenares F, Parellada Redondo M, Arango C. Risk factors for respiratory disease in chronic psychiatric in patients. Eur. J. Psychiat. [online]. 2007, vol.21, n.3, pp. 212-219.
9.- Almarza E, Rio P, Meza NW, Aldea M, Agirre X, Guenechea G, Segovia JC, Bueren JA. Characteristics of lentiviral vectors harboring the proximal promoter of the vav proto-oncogene: a weak and efficient promoter for gene therapy. Mol Ther. 2007 Aug;15(8):1487-94.
10.- Meza NW, Quintana-Bustamante O, Puyet A, Rio P, Navarro S, Diez A, Bueren JA, Bautista JM, Segovia JC. In vitro and in vivo expression of human erythrocyte pyruvate kinase in erythroid cells: a gene therapy approach. Hum Gene Ther. 2007 Jun;18(6):502-14.
11.- Navarro S, Meza NW, Quintana-Bustamante O, Casado JA, Jacome A, McAllister K, Puerto S, Surralles J, Segovia JC, Bueren JA. Hematopoietic dysfunction in a mouse model for Fanconi anemia group D1 Mol Ther. 2006 Oct;14(4):525-35.
12.- Meza NW, Puyet A, Perez-Benavente S, Quintana-Bustamante O, Diez A, Bueren JA, Segovia JC, Bautista JM. Functional analysis of gammaretroviral vector transduction by quantitative PCR. J Gene Med. 2006 Sep;8(9):1097-104
13.- Diez A, Gilsanz F, Martinez J, Perez-Benavente S, Meza NW, Bautista JM. Life-threatening nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia in a patient with a null mutation in the PKLR gene and no compensatory PKM gene expression. Blood. 2005 Sep 1;106(5):1851-6.
14.- Meza NW, Rossi NE, Galeazzi TN, Sanchez NM, Colmenares FI, Medina OD, Uzcategui NL, Alfonzo N, Arango C, Urdaneta H. Cysticercosis in chronic psychiatric inpatients from a Venezuelan community. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2005 Sep;73(3):504-9.