Maria Victoria Lareu
María Victoria Lareu Huidobro (Santiago de Compostela, 1960) holds a degree in Medicine and Surgery from USC (1984), continuing her training in different research centers of special relevance in forensic medicine such as the Institute of Legal Medicine of Coimbra or London Hospital College.
She completed her doctoral thesis on genetic markers in alcoholic liver cirrhosis (1990) at USC, joining the Department of Pathology and Forensic Sciences as an assistant professor and carrying out her research and teaching activity focused on the field of forensic genetics, participating in the introduction of STR loci in the field.
In 1996, she became a professor at USC in the Department of Pathology and Forensic Sciences, where she pioneered the application of SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) and InDels (insertion and deletion polymorphisms) for predicting biogeographic ancestry and physical characteristics—new markers in forensic genetics that are now widely used in the field. Currently, her research focuses on the application of massively parallel sequencing technologies in forensics and the study and application of epixenetic markers of the human genome, pioneering fields in forensic investigation.
In 2007 she obtained the position of Professor of Legal Medicine at USC, and is nominated director of the Institute of Forensic Sciences at USC.
His work was recognized with four consecutive research excellence awards (six-year research periods) (awarded every six years) (1990-1996; 1997-2002; 2003-2008; 2009-2014 (next application 2020),) and with a Science Transfer Award (six-year transfer period).