CeMM Level 8, Seminar Room 

Thomas Berger

Director, Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna

"Current status and challenges in microbiome research in multiple sclerosis"

Host: Vanja Nagy

CeMM Level 8, Seminar Room 

Mariano Barbacid

A X A - C N I O Professor of Molecular Oncology, Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO)

"Precision Medicine: Targeting KRAS mutant lung and pancreatic cancers"

Host: Georg Winter

Biosketch:

Mariano Barbacid got his Ph.D. in Madrid’s Universidad Complutense (1974) and trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the US National Cancer Institute (1974-78). In 1978, he started his own research group to study the molecular events responsible for the development of human tumours.  His work led in 1982, to the isolation of the first human oncogene and the identification of the first mutation associated with the development of human cancer. These findings, also made independently by two other groups, have been seminal to establish the molecular bases of human cancer. 

In 1988, he joined Bristol Myers-Squibb where he became Vice President, Oncology Drug Discovery. In this position, he pioneered the development of what we know now as targeted therapies. In 1998, he returned to Madrid to create and direct the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO). In 2011 he stepped down as Director to concentrate on his own research currently centered on the identification and validation of novel therapeutic strategies against K-RAS mutant lung and pancreatic tumors. 

In 2012, he was inducted to the US National Academy of Sciences and in 2014, elected Fellow of the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research. He holds Honorary Degrees from the Universidad Internacional Menendez y Pelayo (1995), University of Cantabria (2011) and University of Barcelona (2014). 

His work has been recognized by several domestic and international awards including the Steiner Prize (Bern, 1988), Ipsen Prize (Paris, 1994), Brupbaher Cancer Research Prize (Zurich, 2005), the Medal of Honor of the International Agency for Cancer Research (Lyon, 2007) and the Burkitt Medal (Dublin, 2017). In 2011, he received an Endowed Chair from the AXA Research Fund (Paris). He is one of the few European scientists to receive two Advanced Grants from the European Research Council (2009 and 2015) since their inception in 2008. 

To date, Dr. Barbacid has authored 310 publications, including 231 original research articles in journals with impact factor. Currently, Dr. Barbacid's Hirsch "h" factor is 114 (Google Scholar) and 107 (Web of Science).