alejandra manjarrez

Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

Alejandra Manjarrez is a freelance science journalist who contributes to The Scientist. She has a PhD in systems biology from ETH Zurich and a master’s in molecular biology from Utrecht University. After years studying bacteria in a lab, she now spends most of her days reading, writing, and hunting science stories, either while traveling or visiting random libraries around the world. Her work has also appeared in Hakai, The Atlantic, and Lab Times.

Articles by Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

An oldfield mouse mother with its babies.

On a Wild Mouse Chase to Understand Parenting, Love, and Fear

The drawing depicts two fruit flies near a plant from the genus Aristolochia. One fly perches on the plant's orange flower, while the other moves away from it. 

Flies’ Taste for Tumor-Fighting Compounds May Aid Drug Discovery

Collection of pink, green, blue, yellow, and green cubes with A, G, T, C, and a double helix printed on them.

An Overlooked Nucleotide Recycling Pathway Fuels Tumor Growth

Cross sections of a mouse colon, where RNAs are colored depending on the local expression profile.  

A Cellular Atlas of Gut Inflammation

A scanned image of stained mouse pulmonary tissue.

Lung Cancer Cells Switch Oncogenic Drivers

Red and gray round cells floating on a red background. 

Low Intracellular Iron Levels May Keep Blood Stem Cells Young

A transverse section of stem wood from the researchers’ greenhouse-grown poplar tree.

CRISPR Trees Could Improve Paper Production

Glass mosaic with the image of two people. The bodies are arbitrarily crossed by lines that divide them into amorphous fractions, some of them colored.

Noninherited Genetic Mutations Link to Schizophrenia

In this transgenic ant pupa surrounded by wild type pupae, green fluorescence on top reveals olfactory sensory neurons. On the bottom, the expression of red fluorescent protein shows throughout the ant pupa body.

Spying on Transgenic Ants Reveals How Their Brains Respond to Alarm Odors

Microscopic image of a torn piece of gray plastic on a white background.

Alpine and Arctic Microbes Break Down Plastics

Brain cell in purple on a black background. Arc mRNAs are labeled green and are mainly localized in the cell nucleus and in the dendrites.

Short-lived Molecules Support Long-term Memory 

Side and front view of a male human skull

Mechanical Force on the Skull May Aid Bone Regeneration

Image of methylated DNA

Stress Increases Biological Age, But Recovery Can Revert It

Bladder epithelial tissue, where cell junctions are shown in green and nuclei in blue. This was grown in vitro from cells taken from mice with chronic cystitis.

Bladder ‘Memory’ Influences Urinary Tract Infection Recurrence in Mice

Image of the fly brain (grey) highlighting the population of neurons (pink) to which the gut-secreted peptide CCHa1 signals

A Protein-Rich Diet Helps Mice and Flies Sleep More Soundly: Study

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3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

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Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

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Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

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Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

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