A committed teacher with the ability to work as a team, making decisions, identifying opportunities, and focusing on obtaining results.
EDUCATION
Professional in Chemistry and PhD in Chemical Sciences.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Biotechnology and Cell Biology. I have aptitudes in the study of plants, obtaining extracts, bioactive molecules and biological evaluation in different cellular models of pathogens and phytopathogens, experience in the structural characterization of molecules and macromolecules isolated from plants.
22
Scopus Publications
525
Scholar Citations
13
Scholar h-index
13
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
[Antimicrobial activity of Calophyllum cf. brasiliense Cambess against bacteria in harvest and post-harvest of plantain and banana crops] Universidad de Antioquia, Ana Maria Mesa Vanegas, Janneth Liliana Pelaez Villegas, Universidad de Antioquia, Zulma Monsalve, et al. Boletin Latinoamericano Y Del Caribe De Plantas Medicinales Y Aromaticas, 2025 The most important losses in banana crops have been caused by phytopathogenic bacteria such as Ralstonia solanacearum. The Calophyllum genus is a source of metabolites with antimicrobial potential, with reports in the medical field and few in the control of phytopathogenic and protective agents in food. In this study, the biological activity of Calophyllum brasiliense Cambess was evaluated on a phytopathogenic microbial isolate in harvest and three pathogenic microbial strains of fresh agricultural foods. In addition, the spectroscopic characterization of a 4-phenylcoumarin called soulatrolide was performed. Regarding the activity on R. solanecearum, Bacillus subtilisand Bacillus cereus, inhibition zones > 12.0 ± 0.1 mm were presented. This is the first report of promising activity of C. brasiliense on R. Solanecearum. The results motivate to continue with the studies of C. brasiliense and its metabolites as biocontrollers in foods of great global importance.
In vitro free radical scavenging and antibacterial activity with plant extracts of ethnobotanical use in banana production Janneth Liliana Pelaez Villegas, Ana Maria Mesa Vanegas, Zulma Isabel Monsalve Fonnegra Journal of King Saud University Science, 2025 Agricultural productivity is at risk due to the increase in pests and diseases. The most significant losses in plantain and banana crops have been caused by phytopathogenic bacteria such as Ralstonia solanacearum. Even post-harvest, losses are associated with pathogenic microorganisms. New alternatives for controlling pathogenic bacteria in the harvest and post-harvest periods are needed. Plant extracts are of great pharmacological and agricultural interest since they are widely used in the food industry. Colombia is rich in plant diversity, and the Antioquia region is characterized by many traditional medicinal plants. The objective of this study was to determine the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of 13 ethanolic extracts from 12 ethnobotanical species present on the campus of the University of Antioquia. The antioxidant potential of extracts was evaluated by the decolorization test of radical cation α-α-diphenyl-ß-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and inhibition of bacterial growth by the disk diffusion method. The latter was performed using a phytopathogenic crop microbial isolate of Ralstonia solanacearum and other pathogenic microbial strains including E. coli, B. subtilis, and B. cereus. It was observed that the plant with the extract having highest radical scavenging capacity was P. niruri with an IC50 of 3.79 ± 0.4 ppm. The antibacterial activity in vitro for the phytopathogenic strain in R. solanacearum (Banana), inhibition zones were observed between 8 to 25 mm. The inhibition ranges of pathogenic bacteria were between 8-26 mm to 200 and 400 µg/ disc for the 13 extracts evaluated. The most active extract with antibacterial and free radical scavenging was obtained from the G. madruno plant, in which chemical research led to the isolation of a triterpene called friedelan-3-one. This compound was characterized by comparing the spectral signals of nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). This is the first report of these plants evaluated on R. solanacearum and the first report of the isolation of the compound friedelan-3-one in the species G. madruno.
Actinobacteria: Source of antifungal secondary metabolites for agricultural sustainability Harold Alexander Vargas Hoyos, Cristian David Grisales Vargas, Daniel Osorio Giraldo, María Alejandra Villamizar Monsalve, Juan Camilo Arboleda Rivera, et al. Scientia Agropecuaria, 2025 There is a need for new alternative sources of exogenous antifungals to replace those currently used in agriculture. Actinobacteria are gram-positive bacteria with a wide variety of secondary metabolites, which produce around two-thirds of all naturally occurring antibiotics in current clinical use, as well as many anticancer, anthelmintic and antifungal compounds. Consequently, these bacteria are of great importance for agricultural biotechnology, since they can be produced and applied in fields that do not promote resistance among fungi that attack plants. This review presents the research carried out regarding the identification of metabolites with fungal properties, highlighting the main species involved in the production of metabolites that are being used or could be explored in agriculture as bioproducts to promote plant health and sustainability. This review expands knowledge for future research focused on the fields of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, synthetic biology, and ecology for the investigation of novel antimicrobial compounds to combat antifungal resistance and develop more environmentally friendly bioproducts.
Pharmacological potential of parasitic Angiosperms against microorganisms University of Antioquia, Vanessa Suaza-Gaviria, Ana M Mesa Vanegas, University of Antioquia, Zulma Monsalve Fonegra, et al. Boletin Latinoamericano Y Del Caribe De Plantas Medicinales Y Aromaticas, 2023 Parasitic habit plants arouse great interest for their extraordinary growth adaptations and produce different secondary metabolites that allow them to survive the extreme conditions in which they develop. This can provide a range of compounds with multiple uses. However, those plants have been poorly explored and there is very little information about their natural compounds, some healing properties attributed to several communities have been scientifically supported. Articles were consulted in databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Scielo, Science Direct, Scopus) considering the biological activity reported until June 2021. Parasitic plants present mainly antibacterial activity, some species antifungal moderate activity, and to a lesser extent were found reports of antiprotozoal activity. The composition of parasitic plants should continue to be investigated, which could be an alternative to combat various microorganisms that cause diseases, even resistant to traditional medicines.
Antioxidant Activity and Phytopathogenic Control of Extracts and Fraction from Struthanthus calophyllus A.C.Sm. (Loranthaceae) Vanessa Suaza‐Gaviria, Ana María Mesa‐Vanegas, Omar Ocampo‐Jiménez, Zulma Isabel Monsalve‐Fonnegra Chemistry and Biodiversity, 2023 Phytopathogenic microorganisms cause oxidative stress in host plants, thus affecting agricultural crops. Such stress could be controlled by antioxidant compounds from parasitic plants, given their antioxidant power. This article reports an evaluation of Struthanthus calophyllus antimicrobial activity and antioxidant mechanism by testing different polarity extracts. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated against phytopathogens bacteria (e. g., Erwinia, Pectobacterium, Xanthomonas) using the agar diffusion method. Pectobacterium and Xanthomonas presented growth inhibition zones similar to streptomycin control. Antioxidant activity was determined by measuring total phenol content, DPPH⋅, and ABTS⋅+ radicals‐scavenging inhibition percentage (IP). Most polar extracts presented 76,9–95,9 % IP, which correlates with its phenolic content. Besides, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in a V14‐1 sub‐fraction from stem ethanolic extract, chose one for highest yield percentage, highest metabolites presence, and antimicrobial activity, showed triterpenic compounds mixture (α‐amyrin, β‐amyrin and 24‐methylenecycloartanol). Findings in this study are among the first reports for S. calophyllus, even the chemical characterization, that confirm its strong antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Further molecular composition research about parasitic plants could show how unknown compounds may combat pathogenic microorganisms.
Quantitative standardization of pharmacologically active components from antiplasmodial plant solanum nudum dunal (Wild and in vitro) Ana Maria Mesa-Vanegas, Esther Julia Naranjo-Gomez, Felipe Cardona, Lucia Atehortua-Garces, Silvia Blair-Trujillo, et al. Boletin Latinoamericano Y Del Caribe De Plantas Medicinales Y Aromaticas, 2022 Solanum nudum Dunal (Solanaceae) is most commonly known and used by the population of the colombian Pacific coast as an antimalarial treatment. This article study into optimization and quantitative analysis of compounds steroidal over time of development of this species when grown in vitro and wild. A new steroidal compound named SN6 was elucidated by NMR and a new method of quantification of seven steroidal compounds (Diosgenone DONA and six steroids SNs) using HPLC-DAD-MS in extracts of cultures in vitro and wild was investigated. Biology activity of extracts was found to a range of antiplasmodial activity in FCB2 and NF-54 with inhibitory concentration (IC50) between (17.04 -100 μg/mL) and cytotoxicity in U-937 of CC50 (7.18 -104.7 μg/mL). This method creates the basis for the detection of seven sterols antiplasmodial present in extracts from S. nudum plant as a quality parameter in the control and expression of phytochemicals.
Breast cancer histopathology image classification using an ensemble of deep learning models Zabit Hameed, Sofia Zahia, Begonya Garcia-Zapirain, José Javier Aguirre, Ana María Vanegas Sensors Switzerland, 2020 Breast cancer is one of the major public health issues and is considered a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. Its early diagnosis can effectively help in increasing the chances of survival rate. To this end, biopsy is usually followed as a gold standard approach in which tissues are collected for microscopic analysis. However, the histopathological analysis of breast cancer is non-trivial, labor-intensive, and may lead to a high degree of disagreement among pathologists. Therefore, an automatic diagnostic system could assist pathologists to improve the effectiveness of diagnostic processes. This paper presents an ensemble deep learning approach for the definite classification of non-carcinoma and carcinoma breast cancer histopathology images using our collected dataset. We trained four different models based on pre-trained VGG16 and VGG19 architectures. Initially, we followed 5-fold cross-validation operations on all the individual models, namely, fully-trained VGG16, fine-tuned VGG16, fully-trained VGG19, and fine-tuned VGG19 models. Then, we followed an ensemble strategy by taking the average of predicted probabilities and found that the ensemble of fine-tuned VGG16 and fine-tuned VGG19 performed competitive classification performance, especially on the carcinoma class. The ensemble of fine-tuned VGG16 and VGG19 models offered sensitivity of 97.73% for carcinoma class and overall accuracy of 95.29%. Also, it offered an F1 score of 95.29%. These experimental results demonstrated that our proposed deep learning approach is effective for the automatic classification of complex-natured histopathology images of breast cancer, more specifically for carcinoma images.
Targets for antimalaric chemotherapy Revista Cubana De Farmacia, 2020
Historical perspective of antimalarials of natural origin Anales De La Real Academia Nacional De Farmacia, 2017
Antibacterial and larvicidal activity against aedes aegypti L. Of extracts from ambrosia peruviana willd (Altamisa) Revista Cubana De Plantas Medicinales, 2017
Antioxidant activity of different polarity extracts from Ageratum conyzoides L Boletin Latinoamericano Y Del Caribe De Plantas Medicinales Y Aromaticas, 2015
Quantification of quinine in extracts from stems Cinchona pubescens and evaluatión of antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activity Boletin Latinoamericano Y Del Caribe De Plantas Medicinales Y Aromaticas, 2013
Antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activity of ethanol extracts of species of the genus Piper Boletin Latinoamericano Y Del Caribe De Plantas Medicinales Y Aromaticas, 2012
Antioxidant activity and total phenols content from some species of Calophyllum genus Revista Cubana De Plantas Medicinales, 2010
Antimicrobial activity of Calophyllum cf. brasiliense Cambess against bacteria in harvest and pst-harvest plantain and banana crops AM Mesa Vanegas, JL Villegas Pelaez, Z Monsalve BOLETIN LATINOAMERICANO Y DEL CARIBE DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES Y AROMATICAS 24 … , 2025 2025
In vitro free radical scavenging and antibacterial activity with plant extracts of ethnobotanical use in banana production JL Villegas Pelaez, AM Mesa Vanegas, ZI Monsalve Fonnegra Journal of King Saud University–Science 37 , 2025 2025
Actividad antimicrobiana de Calophyllum cf. brasiliense Cambess contra bacterias en cosecha y post-cosecha de cultivos de plátano y banano AMM Vanegas, JLP Villegas, Z Monsalve Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas 24 … , 2025 2025
Actinobacterias: Fuente de metabolitos secundarios antifúngicos para la sostenibilidad agrícola. HA Vargas Hoyos, CD Grisales Vargas, D Osorio Giraldo, ... Scientia Agropecuaria 16 (2) , 2025 2025
Antibacterial activity in vitro and possible mechanism of soulatrolide and derivates against Ralstonia solanacearum in banana crops. AMM Vanegas, JLP Villegas, Z Monsalve 2025
Actinobacteria: Source of antifungal secondary metabolites for agricultural sustainability HA Vargas Hoyos, CD Grisales Vargas, D Osorio Giraldo, ... Scientia Agropecuaria 16 (2), 307 , 2025 2025
Actividad antimicrobiana de calophyllum brasiliense en el control de fitopatógenos en cultivos de banano AM Mesa Vanegas, JL Peláez Villegas, ZI Monsalve Fonnegra 2024
Producto organomineral con potencial actividad antifúngica AM Mesa Vanegas, N Gutiérrez, O Ocampo Jiménez, ... 2023
Antioxidant Activity and Phytopathogenic Control of Extracts and Fraction from Struthanthus calophyllus A.C.Sm. (Loranthaceae) V Suaza‐Gaviria, AM Mesa‐Vanegas, O Ocampo‐Jiménez, ... Chemistry & Biodiversity 20 (2), e202200830 , 2023 2023 Citations: 4
Pharmacological potential of parasitic Angiosperms against microorganisms V Suaza Gaviria, AM Mesa Vanegas, ZI Monsalve Fonnegra Cooperación Latinoamericana y Caribeña en Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas , 2023 2023 Citations: 1
Nematicidal activity and in vitro radical scavenging from Piper cumbricola and Piper eriopodon AM Mesa Vanegas, J Wagner Arenas, O Ocampo Jiménez, ... Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology 47, 102595 , 2023 2023 Citations: 5
Pharmacological potential of parasitic Angiosperms against microorganisms V Suaza Gaviria, AM Mesa Vanegas, ZI Monsalve Fonnegra MS-EDITIONS , 2023 2023
Potencial farmacológico de Angiospermas parásitas contra microorganismos V Suaza-Gaviria, AM Mesa Vanegas, Z Monsalve Fonegra Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas 22 … , 2023 2023 Citations: 1
POV-2 Actividad nematicida de especies del género Piper AMM VANEGAS, JW ARENAS, OO JIMÉNEZ, ZM FONNEGRA Revista Productos Naturales 5 (2), 80-81 , 2022 2022
Libro de Memorias del IX Congreso Latinoamericano de Plantas Medicinales. M Hernández Maqueda, R., Mesa Vanegas, A. M., Gavilánez, T., Bermúdez 2022
Quantitative standardization of pharmacologically active components from antiplasmodial plant Solanum nudum Dunal (wild and in vitro) AM Mesa Vanegas, EJ Naranjo Gómez, FA Cardona Naranjo, ... Cooperación Latinoamericana y Caribeña en Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas , 2022 2022 Citations: 1
Estandarización cuantitativa de componentes farmacológicamente activos de la planta antiplasmodial Solanum nudum Dunal (silvestre e in vitro) AM Mesa-Vanegas, EJ Naranjo-Gómez, F Cardona, L Atehortúa-Garcés, ... Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas 21 … , 2022 2022
Dianas para la quimioterapia antimalárica AMM Vanegas Revista Cubana de Farmacia 53 (1) , 2020 2020
Dianas para la quimioterapia antimalárica AM Mesa Vanegas Editorial Ciencias Médicas , 2020 2020
Actividad antifúngica de cuatro especies de plantas del género Piper con aplicación a cultivos de plátano en el Suroeste Antioqueño JF López Bolívar Universidad de Antioquia , 2020 2020
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Fungicidas a partir de extractos vegetales: una alternativa en el manejo integrado de hongos fitopatógenos AM Mesa, P Marín, O Ocampo, J Calle, Z Monsalve RIA. Revista de investigaciones agropecuarias 45 (1), 23-30 , 2019 2019 Citations: 80
Actividad antioxidante de extractos de diferente polaridad de Ageratum conyzoides L. AM Mesa Vanegas, S Zapata Uribe, LM Arana Aragón, IC Zapata Vahos, ... Bol Latinoam Caribe Plant Med Aromat 14 (1), 1 – 10 , 2011 2011 Citations: 73
Metabolitos secundarios en Trichoderma spp. y sus aplicaciones biotecnológicas agrícolas AM Mesa-Vanegas, A Marín-Pavas, J Calle-Osorno Actualidades biológicas 41 (111), 32-44 , 2019 2019 Citations: 72
Actividad antioxidante y contenido de fenoles totales de algunas especies del género Calophyllum AM Mesa-Vanegas, CA Gaviria, F Cardona, JA Sáez-Vega, S Blair Trujillo, ... Revista cubana de plantas medicinales 15 (2), 13-26 , 2010 2010 Citations: 68
Una visión histórica en el desarrollo de fármacos a partir de productos naturales AM Mesa Vanegas Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Farmacéuticas 48 (3), 16-27 , 2017 2017 Citations: 27
In vitro radical scavenging activity of two Columbian Magnoliaceae MA Puertas M, AM Mesa V, JA Sáez V Naturwissenschaften 92 (8), 381-384 , 2005 2005 Citations: 25
Actividad antioxidante de Piper piedecuestanum trel. & Yunck. y Piper subpedale trel. & Yunck AM Mesa, DC Rincón, JF Toro, A Tamayo, S Blair, BA Rojano Revista latinoamericana de química 39 (3), 91-99 , 2011 2011 Citations: 24
Actividad antiplasmodial y citotóxica de extractos etanólicos de especies de género Piper AM MESA VANEGAS, JF SUAZA TORO, F NARANJO CARDONA, ... Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas 11 … , 2012 2012 Citations: 18
Actividad antibacterial y larvicida sobre Aedes aegypty L. de extractos de Ambrosia peruviana Willd (Altamisa) AM Mesa Vanegas, JP Naranjo, AF Diez, O Ocampo, ZL Monsalve Revista Cubana de Plantas Medicinales 22 (1), 1-11 , 2017 2017 Citations: 17
Síntesis y actividades leishmanicida y citotóxica in vitro de análogos 2-arilquinolinas AM MESA, PA MOLANO, B SEON, B FIGADERE, SM ROBLEDO, ... Vitae 15 (2), 259-266 , 2008 2008 Citations: 17
Antioxidant activity of different polarity extracts from Ageratum conyzoides L. AM Mesa-Vanegas, S Zapata-Uribe, LM Arana, IC Zapata, Z Monsalve, ... 2015 Citations: 14
Cuantificación de quinina en extractos de Cinchona pubescens y evaluación de la actividad antiplasmodial y citotóxica AM Mesa-Vanegas, A Quinto-Quinto, S BLAIR-TRUJILO Boletín latinoamericano y del caribe de plantas medicinales y aromáticas 12 … , 2013 2013 Citations: 13
Antioxidant activity and total phenols content from some species of Calophyllum genus. AM Mesa-Vanegas, CA Gaviria, F Cardona, JA Sáez-Vega, SB Trujillo, ... 2010 Citations: 13
Antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activity of ethanol extracts of species of the genus Piper . AM Mesa Vanegas, JF Toro Suaza, F Cardona Naranjo, S Blair Trujillo 2012 Citations: 7
Actividad antiplasmodial in vitro de Calophyllum inophyllum AM Mesa-Vanegas, AL Pabon, S Blair-Trujillo Química Viva 10 (2), 118-128 , 2011 2011 Citations: 6
Actividad antiplasmodial de extractos de la planta Calophyllum lucidum (Clusiaceae) AM Mesa Vanegas, J Sáez Vega, S Blair Trujillo, E Arango Scientia et technica 13 (33), 217-219 , 2007 2007 Citations: 6
Nematicidal activity and in vitro radical scavenging from Piper cumbricola and Piper eriopodon AM Mesa Vanegas, J Wagner Arenas, O Ocampo Jiménez, ... Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology 47, 102595 , 2023 2023 Citations: 5
Potenciales candidatos antimaláricos y antiplasmodiales de origen natural y sintético AM Mesa Vanegas Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Farmacia , 2018 2018 Citations: 5
Historical perspective of antimalarial of natural origin AM Mesa Vanegas Anales de la Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia 83 (2), 167-174 , 2017 2017 Citations: 5
Antioxidant Activity and Phytopathogenic Control of Extracts and Fraction from Struthanthus calophyllus A.C.Sm. (Loranthaceae) V Suaza‐Gaviria, AM Mesa‐Vanegas, O Ocampo‐Jiménez, ... Chemistry & Biodiversity 20 (2), e202200830 , 2023 2023 Citations: 4
