S. Patricia Becerra

Sofia Patricia Becerra is a biochemist specializing in the retina. She researches protein structure and function in relation to drug development for combating blindness. Becerra is a senior investigator at the National Eye Institute.

Early life and education Becerra was born in Lima. She attended Pontifical Catholic University of Peru before completing a bachelor of science at Cayetano Heredia University. Becerra received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Navarra in 1979 studying lipid-protein interactions of liver mitochondria enzymes. She received postdoctoral research training with at the National Cancer Institute studying enzymology of DNA polymerases and exonucleases, followed by training at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in molecular virology of adeno-associated virus. She returned to Wilson's lab as an expert to study structure-function relationships of HIV reverse transcriptase.

Career Becerra joined the National Eye Institute (NEI) as a visiting scientist in 1991, became an investigator in 1994, and was promoted to principal investigator in 2001 to study the biochemistry of PEDF. The interests of her section are in protein structure as it relates to function, with a focus on the interactions of components involved in cell differentiation, survival, and maintenance. Her research at NEI has applied these interests to systems in the retina. Becerra also investigates protein structure and function in relation to drug development for combating blindness.

Selected works