Ana Maria Jaramillo, Ph.D.

Professional Background

Dr. Ana Maria Jaramillo studies how airway cells become specialized to make and secrete very large amounts of gel-forming mucins, the proteins that make up airway mucus. Too much mucus, or mucus that isn't working properly, causes the airway obstruction seen in asthma, cystic fibrosis, and other chronic lung diseases.
Dr. Jaramillo earned her BS in Biology from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru. She earned her PhD in Medical Sciences from Texas A&M College of Medicine, where she trained with Dr. Burton Dickey. There she was first to report that airway secretory cells use different Munc18 proteins for baseline and stimulated mucin secretion. That finding pointed to a possible way to relieve mucus obstruction without impairing airway clearance. She then completed postdoctoral training in Pulmonary Medicine with Dr. Christopher Evans at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Her work there showed that disrupting mucin disulfide bonds reverses mucus dysfunction in allergic airway disease.