María Elena Álvarez-Buylla Roces

Álvarez-Buylla was born into a family of scientists in Mexico City in 1959. Her father Ramón Álvarez-Buylla was a neurophysiologist and founder of the Department of Physiology at CINVESTAV.[2] Her mother, Elena Roces Dorronsoro, is a biologist and researcher at the University of Colima.[2] Her grandparents worked in aviation and her uncle is the economist José Carlos Roces Dorronsoro. Her brother, Arturo Álvarez-Buylla, is a neurobiologist. She attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where she studied biology and graduated in 1983. Her undergraduate dissertation involved ethnobotany, and was acknowledged by the Botanical Society of Mexico. She was awarded the Gabino Barreda medal for her educational performance. She remained at the National Autonomous University of Mexico for her Master's degree, where she investigated Cecropia from Los Tuxtlas. In 1986 Álvarez-Buylla moved to the University of California, Berkeley for her doctoral studies, where she worked with Montgomery Slatkin on rainforests.[3] After earning her PhD Álvarez-Buylla was appointed a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego, where she worked in La Jolla on molecular genetics.[4]

She has investigated how genetic information is mapped onto a phenotype. She joined the Institute of Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1992.[5] Here she leads the Laboratory of Genetics, Epigenetics, Development and Evolution of Plants.[6] Her work is centred in developmental ecology, and she has looked to understand the mechanisms of cell differentiation and morphogenesis.[7] She has focussed on the balance between proliferation and cell differentiation in the Arabidopsis thaliana.[7] She has investigated the hormonal pathways in plants, as well as studying how they respond to different environments. Álvarez-Buylla has worked in both experimental and theoretical science, developing models that can predict phenotypic patterns, and monitor the role of the environment in complex feedback networks.[7] She provided the framework for understanding of MADS-box genes, which act as regulators of plant and animal development.[7]

Following on from her early career studying rainforests, Álvarez-Buylla has continued to research biodiversity in Mexico. She has created demographic-genetic mathematical models to help with forest regeneration and predict the effects of harvest and species extinction.[7] The models developed by Álvarez-Buylla are used in conservation and forest management worldwide.[7] Her research has identified over 20 new scientific species.[7] She has monitored the biosecurity of Lacandonia schismatica, a crop of immense importance to Mexican communities, as well as various pine populations.[7]