Abel Rosado

Associate Professor

Academic History

  • 1999.   BSc.   Chemistry                            University of Malaga
  • 2006.   PhD.  Molecular Biology                University of Malaga
  • 2006-2011.    Postdoctoral Fellow             UC-Riverside
  • 2012-2014.    Postdoctoral Fellow             University of Malaga

Contact Information

  • abel.rosado@botany.ubc.ca
  • 604-827-1662
  • Office: room 2315, Biosciences Building
  • Lab: room 2234, Biosciences Building

Research Interests

Out of over a quarter of a million plant species, each of which contains complex and dynamic chemical make over, a mere fraction of one percent (1%) has been adequately investigated by western science. Yet, the human experimentation and exploration of plant medicines among Indigenous populations over millennia has created an extended catalog of approximately 20000 plant species with health benefits that represents the main source of medicine for most of the World.

My laboratory is part of a cross-disciplinary research cluster encompassing Anthropology, Ethnobiology, plant and food sciences, analytical chemistry, and clinical nutrition working in collaboration with private companies and First Nation knowledge keepers in the characterization of traditional berries native to the Pacific Northwest, and their potential use as natural sources of phenolic compounds to control blood glucose levels in people living with prediabetes.

Team Memebers

Miriam Fenniri – PhD. Candidate
Elizabeth Orhuamen – MSc. Candidate
Christopher Cote – MSc. Candidate
Christiaan Spangenberger – MSc. Candidate


Selected Publications

Previous Research in Cell Biology:

2022.Bayer E, Brandizzi F, Jaillais Y, Botella MA, Wang P, Rosado A. Plant Membrane Contact Sites – Questions from the membrane interface. Plant Cell.

2022. Kang BH, Anderson CT , Arimura S, Bayer EM, Bezanilla M, Botella MA, Brandizzi F, Burch-Smith TM , Chapman KD, Gu Y, Jaillais Y, Kirchhoff H, Otegui MS, Rosado A, Tang Y, Wang P and Zolman BK. A Glossary of Plant Cell Structures: current insights and future questions. Plant Cell. 34:10-52

2021. Ruiz-López N, Perez-Sancho J, Esteban del Valle A, Haslam R, Vanneste S, Catalá R, Perea-Resa C, Van Damme D, García-Hernández S, Albert A, Vallarino J, Lin J, Friml J, Macho A, Salinas J, Rosado A, Napier J, Amorim-Silva V, and Botella MA. The Endoplasmic Reticulum-Plasma Membrane Contact Site Synaptotagmins Maintain Diacylglycerol Homeostasis during Abiotic Stress. Plant Cell. 33: 2431-2453.

2021. Rosado A and Bayer EM. Geometry and cellular function of organelle membrane interfaces. Plant Physiology185: 650–662.

2020.Zaman MF, Nenadic A, Radojičić A, Rosado A, and Beh CT. Sticking with it: ER-PM membrane contact sites as a coordinating nexus for regulating lipids and proteins at the cell cortex. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 8:675

2020. Lee E, Vila Nova Santana B, Samuels E, Benitez-Fuente F, Corsi E, Botella MA, Perez-Sancho J, Vanneste S, Friml J, Macho A, Alves-Azevedo A, Rosado A. Rare Earth Elements induce cytoskeleton-dependent and PI4P-associated rearrangement of SYT1/SYT5 ER-PM contact site complexes. Journal of Experimental Botany. 71: 3986-3998. 

2019. Song CZ, Rosado A, Zhang Z, Castellarin SD. ABA alleviates uptake and accumulation of zinc in roots and shoots of grapevines by inducing expression of ZIP and detoxification-related genes. Frontiers in Plant Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.00872.

2019. Lee E, Vanneste S, Perez-Sancho J, Benitez-Fuente F, Strelau M, Macho AP, Botella MA, Friml J, Rosado A. Ionic stress enhances ER-PM connectivity via phosphoinositide – associated SYT1 contact site expansion in Arabidopsis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. 116: 1420-1429.

2017. Bayer EM, Sparkes I, Vanneste S, Rosado A.From shaping organelles to signalling platforms: the emerging functions of plant ER-PM contact sites.Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 40: 89-96.

2017. McFarlane HE, Lee E, van Bezouwen LS, Ross B, Rosado A, Samuels AL. Multiscale structural analysis of plant ER-PM contact sites. Plant Cell Physiology. 58: 478-484.

2016. Perez-Sancho J, Tilsner J, Samuels AL, Botella MA, Bayer EM, Rosado A. Stitching organelles: Organization and function of specialized membrane contact sites in plants. Trends in Cell Biology. 26: 705-717.

2016. Tilsner J, Nicolas W, Rosado A, Bayer EM. Staying tight: plasmodesmal membrane contact sites and the control of cell-to-cell connectivity in plants. Annual Reviews in Plant Biology. 67: 337-364.

2016. Perez-Sancho J, Schapire AL, Botella MA, Rosado A. Analysis of protein-lipid interactions using purified C2 domains. Methods in Molecular Biology. 1363:175-187.

2015. Perez-Sancho J, Vanneste S, Lee E, McFarlane H, Esteban Del Valle A, Valpuesta V, Friml J, Botella MA, Rosado A. The Arabidopsis SYT1 is enriched in ER-PM contact sites and confers cellular resistance to mechanical stresses. Plant Physiology. 168: 132-143.