BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
4
AUGUST
2014
Biophysicist in Profile
GABRIELA AMODEO
California redwoods first inspired
Gabriela Amodeo
’s interest in plant science. The sheer size of the
trees sparked her curiosity. “Since childhood,” she explains, “I was impressed with a photograph of the
tallest trees in nature, and I was puzzled with the idea of how nature could deal with altitude and water
transport to and from the tiny leaves on top of these trees: water, gravity, fluids, tension…inadvertently,
I was looking at nature with biophysical eyes!”
Amodeo’s parents were very encouraging of her curiosity and academic interests, and always had books
available for her. Thus, she became a voracious reader. She says, “Reading was like breathing. I grew
up with
Encyclopedia Britannica
, among many other books. I was taught to look at the books to find
answers.” Given her interest in botanical questions, Amodeo decided to study biology. When she took
her first plant physiology class, she knew that she had found the right course of study for her.
Amodeo completed her bachelor’s degree
in biology at the National University of
the South in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, the
city where she grew up. She continued at
the university for her graduate program,
studying ion channels in plant cells. “The
first time I was invited to a laboratory to
watch an experiment in electrophysiology,
"Amodeo remembers, “ I saw an oscilloscope
trace signal. I was told that the signal was
produced by a live ion channel opening and
closing at regular intervals: ions moving
through a cell membrane!” She began using
electrophysiology techniques, specifically
patch clamping isolated vacuoles, isolated
from an algae (
Chara corallina
), and later
in her work continued on ion channels in
onion (
Allium cepa
) guard cells. Early on,
Amodeo had great difficulty with this tech-
nique. She explains, “Patch clamping plant
cells is kind of tricky—not as easy as with
animal cells. For some reason it is difficult
to obtain good seals. I thought I would
never see a nice and clean result out of my
setup.” After this difficult start, she was able
to move forward with her thesis work.
It was during her time in graduate school
that Amodeo met
Ariel Escobar
at a bio-
physics meeting in Tigre, Argentina, and
her research impressed him even then.
“She was a real pioneer,” he remembers,
“
I was impressed with a photo-
graph of the tallest trees in nature,
and I was puzzled with the idea of
how nature could deal with alti-
tude and water transport to and
from the tiny leaves
”
–
Gabriela Amodeo
Amodeo (left) with members of her lab.
