Mario Moisés Álvarez

Mario Moises Alvarez is a Mexican researcher, born in Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua. He is a Visiting Professor at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technologies, at the Brigham Women's Hospital of the Harvard Medical School, in Cambridge Massachusetts. He conducts research at the BIRC (Biomaterials Innovation Research Center) in the areas of Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials, and Microfluidics. Mario Moisés Alvarez is a Full Professor at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies (Tec de Monterrey), specializing in biopharmaceutical and biomedical engineering. His work has been recognized by Level III membership in Mexico's Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, a permanent membership in the AMC (Mexican Academy of Sciences), two granted US patents and three granted Mexican patents.

Alvarez’s mother was a teacher who insisted that her son attended the Tec de Monterrey starting with high school, which he did at the Ciudad Juárez campus. This was followed by undergraduate study in biochemical engineering at the Guaymas campus and a masters in the same field at the Monterrey campus . He continued his education studying a masters and doctorate in chemical and biochemical engineering at Rutgers University in the research group of Professor Fernando Muzzio, and post-doctoral work at Bristol Myers Squibb in the United States under the supervision of Dr. San Kiang.

Since then, Alvarez has primarily been a researcher, known for being the director (2004-2010) of the Centro de Biotecnología FEMSA (FEMSA Center for Biotechnology), a biotechnology research facility in the city of Monterrey, which he founded. The center mainly develops food and pharmaceutical products (and processes) using a wide tool box that includes genetic engineering strategies, bioprocess engineering, and more classical biochemistry concepts. The Centro de Biotecnología-FEMSA is today one of the most productive research organizations of the Tec de Monterrey system. Recent projects in the CBF include the development of treatments for cancer, diabetes and high cholesterol from plants common in Mexico such as the black bean, the seed of the ebony tree and native strains of corn. The center has a staff of about one hundred scientists, mostly from Latin America and attracts students from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, the United States, Panama and Venezuela.

In 2007, Mario Alvarez initiated the Biopharmaceutical Research Group at Tecnológico de Monterrey, today one of the most important research groups in this area in Latinamerica. Its activities have included the creation of a way to mass-produce a vaccine against the AH1N1 virus during the 2009 outbreak . More recently, Alvare´z group became involved in the design and fabrication of Chips capable to produce monoclonal antibodies through anchorage dependent mammalian cell culture.

Alvarez's personal research specialties include design of bio-reactors, transport phenomena and mathematical modeling of biological systems, publishing more than 60 articles in prestigious international journals in his field, along with presenting in over seventy international forums and conferences. He directs theses at the doctorate and masters level.

Alvarez's research work has been recognized by the Mexican government with Level III membership in the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, the highest rank for a Mexican investigator.

Mario Moisés Alvarez has an H index of 21 (according to Scopus) and 25 (according to Scholar Google). He has been cited more than 1650 times in scientific publications including Nature, PNAS, and Physical Review Letters.